


The Mechanics of Poetry

by omgericzimmermann (HMSLusitania)



Series: Mechanics of Poetry [2]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M, Mild Angst, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, boys are stupid, canon typical alcohol and drugs, guest appearance by fred astaire and ginger rogers, i don't actually know how to drive so bear with me, like HELLA SLOW, like so much you guys are gonna hate me, sorry - Freeform, warnings for various homophobic family members
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-06-10 13:15:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 66,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6957925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HMSLusitania/pseuds/omgericzimmermann
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Nursey doesn't know how to drive and Dex takes it upon himself to teach him.<br/>In which Derek Nurse is a love struck fool.<br/>In which Will Poindexter's problems have problems.<br/>And sometimes they play hockey.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Rogers and Astaire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, Friday morning: Hah, I know what I'm going to do! I'm gonna write a short 1k story about how Dex figures out Nursey doesn't know how to drive.  
> Me, Friday night: Ha, but wouldn't it be funny if I extended it? And it got weird into unrequited love and mild angst and family problems and then Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were there and --  
> Me, Tuesday afternoon: ...fuck.
> 
> That said, this is not the totality of the story. It will continue. Unbetad because I'm new here.

Nursey’s first instinct is to avoid Dex. The last three hours from Portland to Dex’s house are filled with Dex arguing about why it’s essential that Nursey know how to drive, even if he doesn’t get a licence while Nursey argues about how monumentally stupid it would be for a person with his proclivities to have working knowledge of a car. His argument of “Bro, there’s a reason there’s Nursey Patrol at every Haus party” is circumvented by Dex pointing out that starting in August they’ll both be living in the Haus anyway. His additional point of, “I’m so clumsy I accidentally hit someone on the other side of an empty room once,” is met with the calm assertion that as long as he thinks of it like he does skating, he’ll be fine. “But brah, there are body checks and we’re d-men. It’s actually _encouraged_ for me to run into people on the rink.”

The problem is, both Nursey and Dex are stubborn. Nursey might be good at avoiding doing things he doesn’t want to, but Dex is probably even more stubborn than he is. But if he can avoid _Dex_ entirely, then surely he’ll get out of this impromptu driver’s ed.

He quickly realises this is an absolutely stupid plan as soon as they drive up to the Poindexter house. Dex’s grandma is waiting for them on the front porch and she pulls Dex into a tight hug, tells him he’s too skinny, and then hugs Nursey. He can’t remember the last time an authority figure hugged him unless he counts his hockey captains, and it’s a little weird. Even Granny Poindexter doesn’t really deter Nursey from his initial plan to avoid Dex. What does is the fact Nursey’s going to be crashing in Dex’s room for the foreseeable future.

“I’m top bunk,” Dex says, dropping his bag and stretching his hands over his head.

“Cool,” Nursey says, dropping his bag on the bottom bunk. He’s pretty sure it used to belong to one of Dex’s older brothers who has since moved to somewhere more civilised.

“William! The refrigerator is making the noises again!” Granny Poindexter calls from downstairs.

“Better go help, William,” Nursey says, smirking at him.

Dex narrows his eyes and heads out of the room.

That’s the other problem with his plan to avoid Dex in order to get out of driver’s ed – he doesn’t actually _want_ to avoid him.

The first few days he manages to get out of it through the art of taking interest in other things. Dex is supposed to be spending a good amount of his summer working in one of his uncles’ shops fixing things, so he doesn’t actually have time to drag Nursey out to an empty parking lot and explain the finer points of shifting. Nursey tags along to Poindexter & Sons Hardware and Repair and spends most of his time sitting on the workbench next to Dex and bugging him. The issue with that is that Dex’s uncle – either Quinn or Jim, Nursey can’t tell the two apart – will show up in the backroom and bug Nursey.

“Son, do you know anything about electrical tape?” Quinn/Jim asks the third day there.

“No,” Nursey says.

“Son, do you know how to tell brackets apart?” Jim/Quinn asks the fourth day.

“Uh,” Nursey says. “Like, sports brackets?”

“Son, do you know how to assemble a display?” Quinn/Jim asks the fifth day.

“The only thing Derek knows how to assemble is a pool table,” Dex pipes up without looking. He’s fiddling with something that Nursey can identify as running on electricity.

“Son, have you ever run a cash register?” Jim/Quinn asks the sixth day. He’s near despair. Nursey doesn’t know how to help him.

“Nope,” Nursey says. He almost feels bad about it but Dex is snickering at him again and it takes all of Nursey’s willpower not to smack him upside the head.

“Son, can you do _anything_?” Jim/Quinn asks. “Aside from scribble on your arms?”

Nursey looks down at his wrists. Both are covered in poems. The ones on the left are tattooed there, the right a blank canvas for whatever inspiration strikes.

“I can bench press Will,” Nursey says. Dex had told him that his family would not take kindly to them using nicknames. Apparently it wasn’t something that was Done in the Poindexter family. Nursey’s response to that had been a question of whether or not his parents would react should he decide to start introducing himself as Sith Lord Jar-Jar Binks. He was 99% sure the answer was no.

“You cannot,” Dex protests, glowering up at him.

“Well, not literally because you’d fight me, but I can bench press your weight,” Nursey replies.

Jim/Quinn looks pensive and then puts Nursey to work carrying things out to the customers’ cars.

On their seventh day in Maine, Granny Poindexter barges into the room at what feels like the ass crack of dawn and snaps open the curtains. Dex groans and pulls a pillow over his head while Nursey blinks blearily at her.

“Come on boys, we're going to mass,” she trills, and then she leaves, Nursey staring after her.

“Mass,” he repeats blankly while Dex groans again and slides out of bed.

“Mass,” Dex agrees. He sounds about as enthusiastic about it as Nursey feels.

“I’m – I’m not Catholic,” Nursey says. It’s sort of the understatement of the year, but he’s tired and sore from carrying things for Quinn/Jim.

“Are you religious at all?” Dex asks, sounding like he’ll probably die of shock if Nursey says yes.

“Nah,” Nursey says.

He waits until Dex is in the bathroom to pull out his phone.

== Bits ==

 **Me:** Bitty help how do I church????

 **Bits:** church? Why are y’all going to church?

 **Me:** Dex’s grandma is dragging us?

 **Bits:** I don’t know, I’ve never been to a Catholic church! Maybe text Jack?

 **Me:** if Jack Zimmermann has been to church I’ll actually keel over and die

 **Bits:** well sure but I think Quebec is largely catholic

== Pieces ==

 **Me:** Hey Jack, you haven’t been to a catholic church before have you?

 **Pieces:** uh.

 **Pieces:** no?

 **Me:** shit.

==

Nursey stows his phone away before Dex gets back and runs to the bathroom to brush his teeth and make his hair not look the way it does.

All told, church with the Poindexters is not the worst thing Nursey has ever endured. True, he does almost fall asleep in the middle of the homily since Granny Poindexter wouldn’t let them get coffee beforehand, but they have brunch out afterwards in the one real restaurant in the entire town. All of the Poindexters are there, including the one who was giving the homily. Because that’s the thing about Dex’s family, Nursey discovers. They’re the backbone of this tiny town in Maine. They run the lobster fishing industry (is it lobster _fishing_? Nursey’s been there a week and has no idea), they own the hardware store, one of them is the pastor/priest/thing, one of them is the sheriff, and Dex’s one aunt is the most beloved principal the elementary school has ever had.

“What are you boys up to today?” Quinn/Jim asks.

“Nothing, just heading out to Fitzsimmons Farms,” Dex says. Nursey knows nothing of this but doesn’t let it show. Belatedly he realises this is a very small town and there aren’t a lot of empty parking lots. There are, however, empty fields.

He doesn’t lose his chill. At least, not outwardly.

Dex forces him into the truck after they’ve changed out of their church clothes and drives them a few miles outside of town. The farm is, as far as Nursey can tell, totally abandoned.

“How did your parents let you get away with not driving?” Dex asks, stopping the car and shutting it off. He’s unbuckling his seatbelt and is clearly planning on switching sides with Nursey in a second.

“I’m from Manhattan,” Nursey says. “I’m not even sure my _parents_ have drivers’ licences.”

And yeah, that’s a total lie since his mom used to drive him to Andover at the start of every school year, but Dex doesn’t need to know that. His dad though, being from Long Island originally and directly on the LIRR, very possibly does not.

“But you never wanted one in high school?” Dex asks. He clearly can’t comprehend this.

“I went to a boarding school,” Nursey points out.

“Wow, so like, you didn’t even--” Dex cuts himself off and blushes furiously. Nursey, sensing vulnerability, moves in for the kill.

“Didn’t even what?” he asks, because if he can distract Dex to the point of being totally flustered, then perhaps he’ll get out of this.

“Nothing,” Dex says.

“No, didn’t what?” Nursey asks. “Come on, you match your hair.”

Dex adopts an annoyed expression. Nursey is starting to think that the only reason Dex makes that face is because it keeps him from looking un-chill. Nursey sort of wants to point out that Dex is already the least chill person he knows.

“I was going to say that you probably didn’t even lose your virginity in a car, but I think the answer is fairly obvious,” Dex says. By maintaining his annoyed look, he staves off the blush. Nursey wants to applaud his learned coping mechanisms.

“That’s not something people actually do, is it?” he asks. “I thought that was just in movies and shit.”

“No, that’s something that actually happens,” Dex says, and the blush is back in full force.

Nursey raises his eyebrows. “Did _you_ lose your virginity in a car?”

“Well it certainly wasn’t in my grandmother’s house,” Dex says.

Nursey lets his jaw drop. “And here I thought you were still a virgin when you started Samwell.”

“You’re funny,” Dex says. “And stalling. Get out of the truck.”

“No, I want to hear more about the logistics of the thing. ‘Cause like, you’re tall, so how do you--” Nursey starts, but Dex slides across the bench and body slams him out of the truck.

The first lesson goes about as well as Nursey expects it to. By the time they’ve been in the field for three hours, he’s managed to successfully start the truck exactly once. And that one time he was so surprised that he immediately let his foot off the clutch (or was it the brakes?) and the engine stalled again.

They get back to Granny Poindexter’s late and she doesn’t look suspicious at all. The boys back in Samwell would look suspicious as fuck if Nursey and Dex had been out alone together for hours; they would suspect foul play was headed in one of their directions. But Granny Poindexter doesn’t even ask what they were doing.

“It’s just weird,” Nursey points out as he stares up at the slats under Dex’s bed.

“She trusts me,” Dex says. “Do your parents not trust you?”

“My dad hired a PI once to find out if I had a drug problem,” Nursey replies, which really says everything he could ever need to say about his family.

Dex is silent for a moment. “That sucks.”

“Yeah. Especially because I didn’t,” Nursey agrees.

Dex is silent for another while. “What did you have?” he asks.

“A boyfriend,” Nursey says.

“Oh,” Dex says. “You’re…pan…right?”

Nursey does his level best not to snort at how awkward Dex sounds about it.

“Yeah,” Nursey says. “Spend enough time with Shitty and he’ll help you sort out your sexuality.”

“I’m fairly confident in mine, but thanks,” Dex says.

“Hey, you never know,” Nursey says. “Things change. People realise things, admit things to themselves.”

“Yeah, I’m really convinced,” Dex says. He still sounds awkward. Then he clears his throat. “So if it wasn’t in a car, where did you lose your virginity?”

Nursey can’t help it when he bursts out laughing.

* * *

 

Monday is the other day they have off from working at the hardware store, so Dex drags him out to the field again. Nursey needs to find a way to avoid this at all costs. He could, he reasons, sabotage the engine. But then again, he knows literally nothing about car engines and Dex is a mechanic.

So he calls in reinforcements.

==SMH Group Text==

 **Me:** help I have to distract Dex so he doesn’t make me do things I don’t wanna

 **Bits:** you got yourself into this mess, Nursey

 **Pieces:** he’s right. You did this to yourself. You went to Maine.

 **Giggles:** bet him that you can beat him at pong and if you do he can’t make you

 **Shits:** DISTRACT HIM WITH YOUR NAKED BODY AND LUSCIOUS MAHOGANY CURLS

 **Giggles:** bro, that’s not even pre-gaming, it’s ten in the morning

 **Shits:** I HAVE BEEN AWAKE SINCE 8 AM YESTERDAY LARDO

 **Bits:** I don’t know, I think nudity might not help the situation. What is he trying to make you do?

 **Holsom:** I agree with Shitty. NUDITY ALL THE WAY BRAH

 **Ranster:** how did you survive college

 **Holsom:** because I had you bro

 **Ranster:** aw bro

 **Giggles:** are you two dating yet?

 **Pieces:** well considering the way they were sharing my guest room the past week

 **Shits:** you two would get together and not tell me?!?

 **Ranster:** we’re not dating Shitty

 **Holsom:** brah, Oxford comma. Everyone knows you’re not dating Shitty

 **Ranster:** brah.

 **Ginger Rogers:** Nursey, you realise I’m actually ON this group text right? I can see you texting. And for the record, if you start taking off your clothes I will throw you out of the truck and leave you here.

==

Nursey lowers his phone and turns to see Dex looking at him, somehow both unimpressed and amused. It’s the “how are you even a real person” look again.

“My luscious mahogany curls aren’t gonna do it?” Nursey asks.

“Get out of the truck,” Dex replies, and Nursey does as he’s told.

The second day does not go much better than the first. Nursey manages to fully start the truck, and keep it in first gear long enough to drive at what feels to him like Mach 4. They go maybe ten yards across the field before Nursey can’t take the stress anymore and lets his foot off the wrong thing again and the engine stalls out and Dex pinches the top of his nose in despair.

To Nursey’s great relief, they’re back at the hardware store on Tuesday and Dex doesn’t have time to drag him out again. He tries not to gloat about this but he fails hard enough that Dex puts him in a headlock to try and get him to shut up. Nursey isn’t sure how to react to the fact his face is pressed against Dex’s side. He smells like Old Spice and dryer sheets and a little like clean sweat and the grease and cut grass from the lawnmower he’s repairing and just the faintest bit like the ocean breeze that sweeps across the town at every given second. Dex’s side is warm against Nursey’s cheek and it’s starting to go to his head. He doesn’t intentionally fall over, but he does it nonetheless. Unfortunately for the panic he’s having, this simply results in him lying on the floor of the repair shop with Dex sprawled across him.

“Regular Fred Astaire aren’t you,” Dex grumbles, rubbing the back of his head.

Nursey frowns even though Dex can’t see him.

“What?” he asks.

“It was irony, Nurse,” Dex says. “He was the best dancer in Hollywood or something, I don’t know.”

“I know who Fred Astaire was,” Nursey says. He doesn’t explain to Dex that his question had more to do with the fact Dex is saved in his phone under the name Ginger Rogers.

Days three and four of driving practice are also not good. Dex has moved from stressed about it to exasperated, which Nursey supposes is better.

“I think I’ve reached the limit of my potential for a stick shift,” Nursey announces when Dex asks him to press in the clutch and shift from first to second gear.

“Why?” Dex asks.

“I can’t do jack shit with my right hand,” Nursey says.

Dex rolls his eyes. “Put the clutch in,” he commands.

Nursey puts the clutch in and Dex grabs his hand over the gearshift and drags it down. The engine stops making those noises, and the truck goes a little smoother across the field. It also goes a little faster, and Nursey is not prepared to handle that, especially not when he considers the fact Dex still has his hand on top of Nursey’s.

“Are your hands always that cold?” Nursey asks.

“Huh?” Dex asks. Out of the corner of his eye since he’s too scared to look away from the field in front of him (There could be roving trees, okay, or silos that jump out of nowhere), he sees Dex look down and notice that he’s still holding Nursey’s hand. “Oh, sorry.”

“No, but seriously, bro, you’ve got some actual circulation problems if your hands are always that cold, like, can you even feel your fingers?” Nursey asks.

Dex rolls his eyes and then leans across the bench to press the icicles he calls fingers to the back of Nursey’s neck. Nursey yelps, the truck stalls out, and Dex cackles.

* * *

 

Nursey’s been in Maine for two and a half weeks by the time he meets someone Dex knew in high school. Considering that Poindexterville (not it’s actual name, but Nursey can’t think of it as anything else) is small enough that everyone there has to go to high school in the next town over, he guesses it’s not that surprising. What is surprising is that the guy he meets is obviously a football player of some sort and is fixated as hell on Dex when he walks into the repair shop. The way this guy is staring at Dex actually makes Nursey uncomfortable since it’s vaguely predatory. Nursey’s not standing next to them when the guy taps Dex on the shoulder since he’s in the process of carrying seventeen bags of concrete mix out to a customer’s truck, but he sees Dex turn and blush and go pale at the same time, resulting in a splotchy face. Nursey drops the last bag of concrete in the customer’s truck and makes his way over to Dex, who is starting to look like he might implode. Football Guy is chatting happily, apparently oblivious to Dex’s discomfort.

Football Guy notices Nursey after a second and looks annoyed. “Can I help you find something?” he asks.

“Uh, no, brah, I work here,” Nursey says, which, honestly, is not a sentence he ever thought he’d say, but there it is.

“Oh, yeah, I did that for a few summers too,” Football Guy says. It feels like a challenge, but Nursey’s not sure why.

“Uh, Steve, this is my friend Derek, Derek, my friend Steve,” Dex says. He looks like he might be about to melt and dissolve into a puddle on the floor of the repair shop. Inasmuch as it would keep Nursey from having to continue his driving lessons, he doesn’t think it’s worth it.

“Oh, cool. Did you guys go to high school together?” Nursey asks, crossing his arms and doing his best not to glare at Steve. What the fuck kind of name is Steve anyway?

“Yeah,” Steve says. Dex says nothing. “Where did Will find you?”

“Samwell,” Nursey says. He’s got a couple inches on Steve and is probably in better shape, he decides after a quick appraisal. And he’s got better hair and – what the fuck is he doing? “We’re on the hockey team together.”

Steve (fucking _Steve_ , Nursey thinks, although he doesn’t know why) considers this information and glances at Dex for confirmation. Dex nods, avoiding Steve and Nursey’s eyes.

“So does that mean you know that one dude from the – I don’t know the hockey teams, that was always the thing Will geeked out about – he’s the famous one? With the coke problem? The one who tried to kill himself or whatever?” Steve says.

“Excuse me?” Dex asks, frowning at Steve. “Are you talking about Jack Zimmermann?”

“That was the name!” Steve says, clearly glad to be enlightened on this count. Nursey sees red, and suddenly all he wants to do is punch Steve in the face. If he’s being honest with himself, he’s wanted to punch Steve in the face since he first locked eyes on Dex and started bothering him, but now it’s even more relevant.

He’s about to do something stupid when he notices Dex’s fists balling and his elbow creeping backwards. Having been on the receiving end of a very pissed off Will Poindexter, Nursey realises that this is not the place for this altercation and grabs Dex by the elbows.

“You should go,” he says to Steve before dragging Dex back to the repair room. Dex paces the room, seething, but doesn’t try to go after Steve. Instead he punches a dented washing machine and then swears. Loudly.

“Are you okay?” Nursey asks, taking a look at Dex’s now bleeding hand while Dex collapses into his usual chair.

“God he’s such an asshole,” Dex complains, which doesn’t really answer Nursey’s question.

“Did he beat you up in high school?” Nursey asks.

“Something like that,” Dex says, turning red around the ears. Nursey raises his eyebrows and looks for a first aid kit to wrap Dex’s hand.

“Dex,” Nursey prompts, because, seriously, the dude made him so mad he punched a washing machine and Nursey is in the process of bandaging the resulting injury.

“It’s complicated,” Dex says.

“What’s complicated about ‘oh yeah the quarterback asshole used to shove me into dumpsters and now he’s pretending we’re friends’?” Nursey asks, raising his eyebrow.

Dex blushes hard enough that his freckles disappear and he addresses his shoes instead of Nursey. “Because he’s my ex-boyfriend.”

* * *

 

After Nursey meets Steve, things are…different. Dex has obviously retreated somewhere dark psychologically as a result and Nursey doesn’t know how to help. He concocts a new group text, one without Dex in it because like hell he’s making that mistake again, and begs.

==Group Text==

 **Me:** uh, so I met Dex’s ex and now Dex is still wigging out and barely talks?

 **Bits:** I didn’t even know Dex had an ex! Oh no! Did it end badly or something?

 **Me:** I think so? He won’t talk about it. But it was supes awk.

 **Giggles:** Do we all agree that Nursey is probably the least qualified person to be handling this?

 **Shits:** well when you factor in the cold hard truth that Nursey’s got the hots for Dex, it could also make him the most motivated.

 **Sharkboy:** WHAT? Since when?

 **Me:** I don’t know, that’s news to me.

 **Giggles:** You were saying, Shitty?

 **Shits:** okay, no, I take it back. Nursey is definitely the least qualified person for this.

 **Bits:** I don’t know, Nursey. Maybe try talking to him? You’re good at bothering him until he snaps.

==

Bitty’s right, Nursey decides. He is very good at badgering Dex until he explodes, and this course of action has two benefits – one, he really does care about whether or not Dex is okay, and two, it might be a way out of driving practice.

“Clutch,” Dex commands. “Second gear.”

Nursey obliges. As much as he really hates driving, he can’t deny he’s starting to recognise the noises the engine makes when he needs to shift. Except then he tries to put it in third gear and ends up in neutral and the truck rolls to a stop. Dex audibly rolls his eyes.

“Hey, man, are you okay?” Nursey asks. “Because, like, you’ve been acting like more of a tight ass than usual since that thing with Steve last week.”

“I don’t want to talk about Steve,” Dex says.

Nursey nods and manages to start the truck again. “So when you said you were confident in your sexuality, you meant you were gay?”

“I – what do you care?” Dex snaps, sounding stressed about it. Nursey wonders if, despite having a complicated past with an ex-boyfriend, Dex is still a little in denial about it.

“Because you’re my friend, and it’s gonna be hella easier to find you a Screw date if I know what team you’re batting for,” Nursey says. “Speaking of which – baseball uniforms, right? Although really, they’d be better if it was guys with hockey butt in the baseball uniforms, but--”

“Oh my god please stop talking,” Dex says.

Nursey falls silent for a moment. But only a moment. “Your family doesn’t know do they.”

“Exactly two people know and I’ve slept with one of them,” Dex says. He runs his hands through his hair and rests his elbows on the dashboard. Nursey stops the truck on purpose and turns it off using the key instead of fucking it up and stalling out. “I’m not – I can’t be open about it like Bitty or you or--”

“Dude, Bitty grew up in fucking _Georgia_ ,” Nursey points out. “I would bet you cold hard cash that not a single person in his hometown knows he’s gay.”

Dex raises his eyebrow, which Nursey can just see below the hands still pressed to his forehead.

“Eric Bittle the bake-happy, booty-short wearing, figure skater,” he says. “Who literally dressed up like a Puck Bunny.”

“Well, okay, the people in his hometown _assume_ he’s gay, but they don’t say anything about it,” Nursey concedes. “And just so you know, if you ever do decide to, like, come out or something and it doesn’t go…well…you can crash with me in New York.”

Dex lifts his head out of his hands and looks at him with bleak eyes. It’s a sign of stress, Nursey realises, because Dex’s eyes are usually bright, bright amber, the kind that shine with fire from the inside out and turn almost yellow in the sun and – and when the fuck did he start waxing poetic about Dex’s eyes?

“You mean I can crash with your emotionally absent parents when my family turns out to be exactly as Catholic as I think they are?” Dex asks. His face is twisting into a wry smile and Nursey has to resist the urge to reach across the bench and ruffle his hair and _what the fuck is happening to him?_

“Nah, come on, brah,” Nursey says. “You’ll sign with the Schooners or something and then you’ll be set and have your fuck-you money.”

“Yeah, no, I’m not being the first gay NHL player,” Dex says. Nursey doesn’t point out that Dex has just said gay in reference to himself since he’s pretty sure that would spook him.

“Bruh, Kent Parson exists,” Nursey says, which gets Dex to laugh. Not for very long, but it’s there. “Hey, you don’t think he and Jack…”

“You’d have to ask Bitty since he’s Jack’s best friend,” Dex points out. “He’s down in Providence every other weekend.”

They both fall into silent contemplation and exchange suspicious looks.

“You don’t think _Bitty_ and Jack…” Nursey starts.

“I do but I also think it’s none of our business,” Dex says.

Nursey can agree with that since obviously Jack, in the event he is dating Bitty or dated Parse, would have to deal with being the first openly gay player in the NHL and that just sounds shitty.

Dex is a little less broody after that. Nursey wonders if there’s a sort of relief he’s feeling, knowing that he can actually talk to Nursey about this stuff, knowing that there’s someone nearby who knows where he’s coming from and won’t judge him for that. He wonders if it feels a little like the time he had a monumental freak out in the ninth grade and ended up blathering all over Shitty – who had been called Shitty even then – and asking him how it was possible that he could have such a huge crush on one of the guys on the swim team even while he was so far gone on the girl in his English class. Shitty had taken him aside and sent him a link to definitions of all the different sexualities. It had been such a relief to have a friend who knew what was going on, and know there were other people who thought like him and that he wasn’t broken in some way.

“Hey, so for the Fourth,” Dex says a few days later while they carry a busted oven into the shop.

“Oh god is it really almost the Fourth?” Nursey asks. Because if it is, then he’s been in Maine crashing in Dex’s grandma’s house for five weeks. True, it had been an open invitation to stay as long as he liked, but he hadn’t _really_ meant that he was going to just stay until it was time to go back to Samwell. Except he also really does not want to go back to New York.

“Yeah,” Dex says, sounding both exasperated and resigned by Nursey’s ability to keep time. “How do you actually manage to turn in your assignments on time in school?”

“Because you yell at me if I don’t,” Nursey responds, which is entirely accurate. He’s lost count of the number of times that they’ve been sitting in the library, Dex working on his engineering homework, Nursey zoning the fuck out, until Dex points out that he’s got an essay due the next day.

“Of course,” Dex says, and Nursey’s a little relieved that Dex almost looks amused. “Anyway, for the Fourth, the next town over does the best fireworks, and the best vantage point is on the hill, so I was thinking we should grab a couple of sleeping bags and park the truck up there.”

“Why sleeping bags?” Nursey asks. They set the oven down on the shop floor and Nursey is very proud of himself for not tripping or breaking anything.

“Because then we can drink?” Dex points out.

Nursey agrees that this is a capital idea, and two days later, they’ve packed away as much food as Granny Poindexter can foist on them, used one of Nursey’s fake IDs to stock up on liquor, and are heading to the top of the hill between them and the next town over. To Nursey’s complete confusion, Dex sets up a tent in the bed of the truck. Nursey realises as he does that he’s never actually seen a camping tent in person.

“How do you know where all the poles go?” he asks. He offered to help Dex as soon as he started setting it up, but Dex took one look at him while Nursey happened to be in the act of smacking himself in the face with one of the tent pegs and decided against accepting it.

“Because of how long they are?” Dex says. “Have you ever been camping?”

“I’m from Manhattan,” Nursey responds. Dex rolls his eyes, but there’s a certain fondness there. Or maybe Nursey’s just projecting. “But in the movies, don’t they always have the things with the, like, tarp or whatever over them?”

“That’s to keep rain out,” Dex explains. “And it would stop us from seeing the fireworks, which is the whole point of being out here.”

“Then why do we need the tent?” Nursey asks while Dex stuffs an air mattress into the tent. For a second, Nursey is nervous, but there are two sleeping bags.

“Because the mosquitos are the size of dogs,” Dex replies.

At first, Nursey thinks he’s exaggerating, and then one lands on him. His shriek is decidedly unchill, and he dives into the tent, zipping it shut while Dex cackles at him.

“Oh shut up Poindexter,” Nursey grumbles.

By the time it’s starting to get dark, his arm has started to itch. He’s distracted by his phone buzzing. It’s a picture on the group text from either Ransom or Holster of the two of them looking both very solemn and very drunk while Holster salutes what is presumably an American flag. Ransom, on the other hand, is wearing nothing but boxers that are patterned after the Canadian flag and is saluting in the fucked up British way with his palm facing outwards.

Nursey snorts and shows it to Dex, who, for some reason, frowns at Nursey’s phone.

“Holsom?” he asks. “Which one of them is that?”

“I dunno,” Nursey says. “One of them’s in there as Holsom and the other’s Ranster and I honestly don’t remember which one is which anymore. I tried calling each number once to figure it out, but Holster answered both times, so…”

Dex looks amused and both their phones go again. This time the picture is from Jack, who is wearing a t-shirt that says “U.S. Eh?” on it while Bitty stands in the background looking despairing.

“Yeah, they’re so dating,” Nursey decides.

“Yeah,” Dex says. “What’s Jack saved as in your phone?”

“Pieces,” Nursey replies.

“Why--”

“Bits and Pieces,” Nursey explains. Dex huffs like he’s expected nothing less. “Shitty and Lardo are Shits and Giggles.”

“And Chowder is Sharkboy and Farmer’s Lava Girl?” Dex guesses.

“Actually, yeah,” Nursey agrees.

“And what am I? Freckles?” Dex asks.

“Nah, Ginger Rogers,” Nursey replies.

Dex is silent for long enough that Nursey feels it’s the end of the conversation so he cracks a beer and passes it to Dex.

“No, I can’t figure it out,” Dex decides, taking a drink of his beer. “Why am I Ginger Rogers?”

“Because Ginger,” Nursey points out, unable to stop himself from ruffling Dex’s hair. He has very soft hair and in the moonlight just then, it’s gone from orange to rose gold and – and Nursey’s going to drive himself insane. That’s the only possible outcome. “And also Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, just backwards, and in high heels, and that makes her, like, super competent and you’re good at everything.”

“Was that a compliment?” Dex asks, raising his eyebrows in genuine shock.

Nursey pushes him in the shoulder and Dex lists sideways. “Come on, man, I watched you resurrect a dryer some dude ran over with a Jeep. You know how to drive stick, you’re Bitty’s go-to sous chef, you’re a fucking _engineering_ major, and you’re the best partner I’ve played with.”

“Holy shit, did you, Derek Nurse, who lives for nothing other than chirping me just…compliment me?” Dex asks.

“I can take it back if you want,” Nursey offers, glad it’s dark and that Dex can’t really see him blushing. He means it though, every word.

“No,” Dex says, and Nursey can see just the faintest blush on his ears.

“So what are we saved as in your phone?” Nursey asks.

Dex, now blushing fully, hands over his phone. Nursey scrolls through his contacts with increasing disbelief. There’s an Eric Bittle, a Shitty Knight, a Larissa Duan, Justin Oluransi, Adam Birkholtz, Chris Chow, Caitlin Farmer, Jack Zimmermann.

“Oh my god not even our proper nicknames?” Nursey demands, gaping at Dex. He pauses and then realises he hadn’t seen a Derek Nurse. It’s entirely impossible that Dex doesn’t have his number since Nursey had programmed it into his phone himself back in freshman year. Then he scrolls up to the top of the contacts and finds a Fred Astaire. He taps on it, and indeed, there’s a New York phone number that looks an awful lot like his own.

He bursts out laughing and gives Dex his phone back. Any response Dex would have, any defence against the fact he and Nursey had somehow managed to label each other as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, is curtailed by the first of the fireworks going off. They curl up in their sleeping bags and recline on the air mattress to watch them explode, starbursts of white and red and blue, twisting spirals of gold that whistle as they fall. There are mushroom clouds of purple sparkles, booms so loud they hit Nursey in the chest.

When he wakes up in the morning, the air mattress has deflated some, and he and Dex have sunk into the middle in a well. Dex’s sleeping bag is pulled right up over his nose and he’s curled up into Nursey’s side. If they weren’t separated by the sleeping bags, Nursey’s fairly sure he would’ve put his arms around Dex and aggressively cuddled him at some time in the night and –

And yeah, he _really_ likes Dex. He wants the excuse to look at him all the time, to kiss him, to chirp him and have it end with frisky roughhousing that ends in sex, he wants to come visit him at his future engineering job when Dex is designing the next super important technological innovation, and –

And oh god.

He’s in _love_ with Dex.

It’s a completely terrifying prospect but at the same time, Nursey just wants to wrap his arms around Dex and pretend that they somehow ended up that way in the night when Dex inevitably freaks out upon waking up in Nursey’s arms. But then he hears Shitty’s voice in his head shouting at all of the Frogs on the importance of consent and personal space – which, for Nursey, had been a review lecture of the same lecture Shitty gave the entire Varsity Men’s Hockey Team at Andover at the start of every semester – and so he doesn’t. As much as he wants to, he doesn’t put his arm around Dex, because it’s one thing to accidentally cuddle someone while you’re both asleep, but another to do the same thing while only one party is asleep and that party is not the one making the moves.

Dex wakes up about half an hour later and instantly tries to roll away from Nursey. This doesn’t work very well since they’re both in sleeping bags and the air mattress is sagging, but eventually Dex struggles into an upright position. He doesn’t remove any part of himself from the sleeping bag though.

“Cold?” Nursey asks, reaching to the top of the tent and grabbing the thermos of coffee Granny Poindexter had sent with them. He doesn’t expect it to still be warm, but it is.

“No,” Dex says, but his voice is muffled due to the fact the lower half of his face is still hidden in the sleeping bag.

“Lying?” Nursey asks.

“Yes,” Dex replies, which gets Nursey to laugh. He offers him the thermos of coffee and once they finish it, they start to get ready to head back to town. Granny Poindexter is waiting for them with a proper breakfast as are a clan of bright ginger people between the ages of twenty-one and thirty who Nursey has never seen. He thought he’d met all of the Poindexters who lived in Poindexterville.

“Oh good boys, you’re back!” Granny Poindexter says before Dex is tackled by the oldest two members of the group, followed by a small pack of children Nursey hadn’t noticed. He’s met most of Dex’s cousins, since their parents all live in town, but…

“And who are you?” the eldest of the new group asks, turning his attention to Nursey. He’s got his arm around Dex’s shoulders, holding him in a half-headlock. Nursey recognises the technique from when Dex had put him in a headlock.

“N- Derek,” Nursey says. “I go to Samwell with D- Will.”

“You’re not the hipster poet one Will wanted to punch in the face for all of freshman year are you?” the guy asks. The others all turn to catch the answer.

“Probably,” Nursey replies while Will turns steadily closer to the same shade of red as his own hair. The other Poindexters start laughing at that.

“Good,” the guy says. “I’m Colin, that’s Jamie, Siobhan, Iain, and Assumpta. And you know Will, obviously.”

The small children scampering around Dex and Colin’s feet look put out.

“Daddy,” one of them demands.

“Oh, yeah, and my kids,” Colin says. “Ainsley, Thomas, and Malachy.”

“Y’all are really Irish aren’t you,” Nursey says.

“That’s a shot,” Dex mumbles from under Colin’s arm.

“So you’re the one crashing in my room?” the one Nursey thinks is called Iain accuses. “Granny wouldn’t let me put my stuff up there.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Nursey says. He has known on some level that there’s a very compelling reason Dex lives with his grandmother, and never, _ever_ , speaks about his parents, but for whatever reason it hadn’t occurred to him before that they were, well, dead. Except now he can’t think of another explanation.

He also realises that he didn’t know exactly _how many_ siblings Dex has.

“Look, we just spent all night in the bed of the truck, so we both need to go take showers and stuff,” Dex says, worming his way out of Colin’s death grip. “We’ll be back down in a few.”

Nursey waves goodbye to them and follows Dex up the stairs. Once the door is slammed behind them, Dex drops to the floor with his eyes huge, face panicked.

“I didn’t know they were coming,” he says.

“Oh,” Nursey says, because yeah he kind of figured. “Is that bad?”

“I--” Dex doesn’t appear to know how he feels about this situation aside from ‘wrong-footed’. “Maybe?”

“Anything I should know?” Nursey asks. “Things I shouldn’t say or--”

“Don’t bring up politics or religion,” Dex says. “Colin’s got a temper.”

“Runs in the family?” Nursey guesses.

“No, not anything like me,” Dex says.

And now Nursey’s concerned because he’d intended to spend the day trying to figure out how to deal with the fact he’s just realised he’s in love with Dex, but instead Dex is very clearly freaking out about his siblings visiting and all Nursey wants to do is comfort him. And figure out why it’s freaking him out.

“And don’t bring up the fact your family’s got money,” Dex adds. “Or sports teams, or--”

“How about I just speak when spoken to,” Nursey says, completely shocked this is even a thing he’s saying. Dex nods his agreement.

Things go wrong almost immediately since Granny Poindexter shepherds them all into the living room to catch up as a family since everyone except Dex has moved out and moved somewhere else. Nursey volunteers to clean up the breakfast dishes rather than intrude on family time, except then he’s cornered in the kitchen by Assumpta. She looks like Dex, Nursey realises. All the Poindexters look similar, but Assumpta’s got the same amber eyes and the long limbs and freckles.

“So Derek,” she says, taking over the drying duties. “What do you study at Samwell?”

“Uh, English,” Nursey says.

“Oh,” Assumpta says. “So if you’re not in engineering with Will, how do you guys know each other?”

She’s looking curious at him, she’s tucking her hair behind her ear, she’s batting her eyelashes, and _shit_. Nursey has to remind himself that whatever his feelings are for Dex they’re one-sided and so it’s not exactly like his boyfriend’s sister is flirting with him or anything.

“We’re both on the hockey team,” Nursey says. What he _wants_ to say is that he’s sorry, she’s very pretty, but he’s in love with her brother. He almost would, except that this is a new situation for him, let alone other people.

“Oh, do you both play defence together?” Assumpta asks.

“Yep,” Nursey says, keeping his answers as noncommittal and uninteresting as he can.

“Well that’s fun,” Assumpta says, smiling at him. “What are your tattoos?”

Nursey can’t shake her. She follows him around all day, sitting next to him at the table for dinner, sitting next to him on the couch for night caps later, and Dex is still too wigged out by Colin and Jamie’s badgering questions to notice the fact Nursey is in a panic. They get back to Dex’s room for the night (Iain grumbling about having to sleep on the couch in the living room with their niece and nephews) and Nursey doesn’t know about Dex, but he just lies there staring at the slats of Dex’s bed with wide eyes.

“Okay, I understand why you were freaked out about your siblings visiting,” Nursey says around one in the morning. He can tell from Dex’s breathing that he’s not asleep.

“Yeah,” Dex agrees. He’s silent for a moment. “Was Assumpta really hitting on you?”

“Yeah,” Nursey agrees. “Colin and Jamie were asking about your social life at school?”

“Yeah,” Dex says. “Wanted to know if I had a girlfriend yet.”

“Awk,” Nursey replies.

“So tomorrow,” Dex says. “Driving?”

“Yeah.” Nursey agrees without thinking about it.

* * *

 

They don’t actually end up practicing Nursey’s driving over the week that Dex’s siblings are in town. Mostly they end up lying in the bed of the truck out in the field bickering about music. Dex throws his legs over one side of the truck, Nursey over the other. He doesn’t think about the fact it would take very little effort to turn his head and kiss Dex while they’re lying that way.

They’ve come to the conclusion that before they head back to Samwell the first week of August – they have to be back for Jack’s birthday as threatened by Bitty – they have to find some music both of them can agree on. To an extent, they do. Dex will accept Bastille, and Nursey will tolerate Imagine Dragons.

“I just don’t understand why you – who are already angry deep down inside – like listening to angry music,” Nursey complains as they’re lying in the truck bed two days after Dex’s siblings have descended like a ginger plague on their house.

“It externalises the anger,” Dex replies. “How long do you think Granny will let us stay out here before she calls?”

“Dude, she’s your grandma,” Nursey says. “And honestly, I think Colin’s more likely to be the one who tracks you down.”

Colin was omnipresent in the Poindexter household from the second he set foot there. He was always seven places at once, keeping tabs on his own children, on his five younger siblings, on Granny Poindexter, on Nursey, always offering ‘helpful’ suggestions on how they could be better at what they were doing. Nursey hadn’t intentionally broken a spatula, the dish disposal, and fallen over in front of him in the space of 1.4 seconds, but it had managed to successfully deter Colin from attempting to help him, since Colin gave him up as a hopeless case.

“Why is he like that?” Nursey asks.

“I don’t know,” Dex says. He doesn’t say it like he doesn’t know, he says it like he doesn’t want to say.

“Dex,” Nursey prompts.

“He was fourteen when our parents died,” Dex says. “I don’t know, I think he must’ve just thought it was his responsibility to be the man of the house or something.”

“Shitty would break his face in over gender roles,” Nursey says. Dex snorts.

Over the remaining days the rest of the Poindexters are in attendance, Nursey discovers that the reason he’s not supposed to bring up politics or religion around Colin is because Colin is a textbook republican. As he starts spewing vitriol about democrats over dinner one night, Nursey has to stab his fingernails into his palm to keep from lunging across the table. He doesn’t realise he’s actually cut his hand until he and Dex escape to the upstairs. He finally uncurls his right hand to find it full of blood and four half-moon cuts.

“You know, I was wondering why you were so intent on being in the closet since Granny Poindexter seems like she’d be pretty chill about it, but I understand now,” Nursey says, using a paper napkin to staunch the bleeding. Dex just looks guilty. “So if you ever feel like breaking up with your family, let me know, because I want to break Colin’s nose.”

“I’m sorry,” Dex mumbles.

“I swear to god if he says the fucking f-word one more time,” Nursey continues. He’s livid, but he’s got enough sense to keep his voice down.

“Nursey,” Dex says. Nursey stops pacing the length of the room to look over at Dex. He still look shaken by dinner and Nursey immediately feels awful. It’s one thing to have to hear Colin spout bullshit about people like him, but it’s something else for Dex, who’s Colin’s brother.

“I’m sorry man,” Nursey says, pulling Dex into a hug before he notices what he’s doing.

“Um,” Dex replies.

“Sorry,” Nursey says, letting go. “It looked like you could use a hug and I – sorry. I’m gonna go wash my hand.”

He hides in the bathroom with his phone and his right hand under the faucet.

==Shits==

 **Me:** fuck you

 **Shits:** what did I do?

 **Me:** for being right.

 **Shits:** so you’ve acknowledged the fact you’ve got the hots for one William J. Poindexter. Good.

 **Me:** no, not good, his oldest brother is a homophobic bag of lizard dicks.

 **Shits** : …

 **Shits:** that’s a very illustrative comparison.

==

Colin and company go home after mass on Sunday and Nursey just barely manages to bite his tongue about “isn’t it immoral to travel on the Sabbath?” He sees the tension leave Dex’s shoulders once they’re gone and he’s happy that he doesn’t have Assumpta following him around anymore. Mostly he’s just glad Colin is gone.

Dex throws himself back into his repair work, since they’ve only got two weeks before they’re supposed to head back to Samwell. Nursey does his best at helping Quinn/Jim haul things around, and he helps Granny Poindexter make dinner every night. Dex continues to drag him out to Fitzsimmons Farms on their weekends, and by the time Nursey and Dex are getting ready to leave for Samwell, he’s actually succeeded in driving. As much as he hates it, he’s made it across the field back and forth, turned, gone in reverse, and even managed to do something that vaguely resembled parallel parking.

“Great, I can make you drive part of the way back,” Dex threatens as they pack their bags.

“Yeah, maybe I _can_ drive, but I still don’t have a licence,” Nursey points out throwing a pair of balled up socks at Dex’s head. “If we get pulled over and I’m driving, then we’re hella fucked.”

Dex considers. “Do you think we’ve got to add ‘hella’ to the list of things that you have to take a shot for? Because it’s such a Chowder/California thing.”

“No, I think we should just make Chowder take a shot every time he says hella,” Nursey decides.

“That’s fair,” Dex says.

Despite everything with Dex’s siblings, Nursey’s a little sad to leave Maine the next day. He finds he likes Granny Poindexter a lot – more than his own grandparents, who usually scold him in Arabic for doing an English degree instead of something practical like medicine or engineering or law – and he likes spending time with Dex. He tries to remind himself that he’s still going to be spending time with Dex back in Samwell, especially since they’ll be sharing the attic, but it’s not going to be the same.

They say goodbye to Granny on the front porch after they’ve tossed their bags into the bed and Dex has covered them with a tarp and pinned them down. Then Granny beckons Nursey back into the house on the pretence of giving him a bag of cookies for the road. Nursey takes them, unwilling to admit he’s already started having inappropriate dreams about Bitty’s pies.

“You’re a nice boy, Derek,” Granny says, squeezing his arm. “You should feel free to come back next summer.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Nursey says. “I’d like to.”

Granny smiles, but then she sighs and looks downcast. “Look, Derek, I’ve seen the way you look at that boy,” she says. It comes like a punch to the gut. But, he reasons, if she was about to shout at him for liking Dex, surely she wouldn’t have prefaced it with the comment he was welcome back next summer. “Just – would you let him know that Colin’s not his only family member? And some of us just want to see him happy, whatever that means.”

“I – I’ll try,” Nursey says, because what do you say to a little old lady who calls you on the fact you’ve got a crush on your best friend, who happens to be her grandson?

“Good,” Granny says, pulling him into a hug. “Drive safe now.”

Nursey laughs, takes the cookies, and heads for the truck. He drops the bag in the middle of the bench and buckles his seatbelt. He reaches for the aux cord and plugs in his phone. Dex starts the engine and raises his eyebrow.

“So what do you think?” Nursey asks, scrolling through his library. “The Lumineers?”

Dex laughs, pulls his hat off his head, and smacks Nursey in the arm with it. Nursey laughs as well, puts on a song. Immediately, Dex rolls his eyes but he doesn’t change it while Fred Astaire starts to croon.

_Heaven. I’m in heaven_

_And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak_

_And I seem to find the happiness I seek_

_When we’re off together dancing cheek to cheek._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song lyrics are from the song "Dancing Cheek to Cheek" by Fred Astaire, which he sang in a movie with Ginger Rogers.  
> The next chapter might, probably, be from Dex's POV. 
> 
> Please come cry with me about these stupid hockey babies on [tumblr.](http://omgericzimmermann.tumblr.com)


	2. Drift Compatible

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there folks! I'm sorry this has taken as long as it has. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I am not Ngozi (obviously) and I have never been to Maine (sorry to the person who said I made them want to go)
> 
> I am un-betad since, as I said before, I'm new here, but if anyone would like the position, feel free to message me on [ tumblr ](http://www.omgericzimmermann.tumblr.com)

They’re listening to a playlist of 1940s big band music, Imagine Dragons, Bastille, and for reasons Dex doesn’t really understand, Uptown Funk. Nursey’s humming along under his breath, the wind from the open windows ruffling his hair. He’s eaten most of the cookies Granny Poindexter sent them with, and seems to be pretty happy. Dex isn’t sure he’s really seen Nursey _happy_ before. He’s usually too fucking “chill” to emote like a normal human being. Of course, Dex is sort of one to talk.

By the time they reach the border of Massachusetts, the group text is pinging every few seconds. Everyone is coordinating their arrival for Jack’s birthday, and Holster and Ransom have informed the two of them that they’ll be crashing in their attic. Shitty’s driving down from Cambridge and he and Lardo have plans to abscond with their old room – currently occupied by Tango. Jack, being a true gentleman, has offered to sleep on an air mattress in Bitty’s room during the festivities so that Chowder can keep his room.

“But we both know that he’s doing that so that he and Bitty can have birthday sex,” Nursey points out. Since Dex is driving, Nursey’s been reading the group text aloud with editorial comments.

“Yeah, and hopefully Ransom and Holster aren’t actually dating,” Dex says.

“Why?” Nursey asks. “Don’t you want them to be happy?”

“Yeah, I do, but I don’t want to share a room with them when they’re drunk and dating and trying to get handsy,” Dex says.

Nursey looks up from his phone with distant horror. “That’s a really good point.”

“But I brought the air mattress so we can just stick them on that,” Dex says. Nursey nods. He still looks unnerved by the possibility that they might be stuck in the attic with Ransom and Holster while they have sex.

They arrive at the Haus in the middle of the afternoon, and Dex almost slams the brakes in shock. They’re not in the right place, except that this is definitely Samwell University’s frat row. It’s the right address. But.

But the Haus has been painted – now white with red trim like the Samwell colours - and the gutters have been replaced, the roof has been re-shingled, the broken window in Chowder’s room has been replaced, and the front yard has been mowed recently. A wooden plaque hangs from the eaves of the roof with the words “The Haus” engraved on it.

“What,” Nursey says, apparently incapable of making it a complete sentence.

Dex recovers quicker. “Jack makes a lot of money playing for the NHL and was trying to help?”

“Y-yeah,” Nursey says, still gaping, open mouthed, at the Haus. “Shitty’s gonna cry.”

“Yeah,” Dex agrees, parking and dragging his bags out of the bed of the truck. Nursey follows suit and they walk up to the front door in shock. It’s relatively untouched on the inside, although much cleaner than usual. “I just realised we left Bitty here by himself all summer.”

“Me too,” Nursey replies.

The living room looks much the same as it did before, right down to the disgusting couch that makes Bitty cry. Bitty himself is in the kitchen singing along to some pop music that Dex can’t identify, and looks very startled when Dex knocks on the kitchen door.

“Oh! You’re here!” Bitty says. “Tango and Chowder will be here in about half an hour and then we can have our first Haus meeting.”

Bitty offers them cookies and asks about their summer. Dex lets Nursey swear about Colin, his eyes flashing dangerously while Bitty looks horrified. At Bitty’s comment that Colin sounds worse than his cousins back in Georgia, Dex grimaces. He doesn’t participate much in the conversation, preferring to eat the cookies Bitty’s offering. When Chowder and Tango get there, they both look stunned by the external transformation of the Haus. Tango opens his mouth to launch into his typical ten thousand questions, but Bitty interrupts.

“Okay, y’all, welcome back to the Haus,” Bitty says. “I’m going to be adding some new Haus rules if y’all don’t mind.”

None of them find it in themselves to argue with him and let him enumerate the new rules. There will be no leaving of other people’s undergarments in the public spaces, only safe sex is to be practiced (with the added note that, come on guys, there’s bags full of condoms tacked to the bulletin board), and anyone who defiles the kitchen will be running suicides for the next ten practices. The final additional rule is enacted when Bitty directs them to collect the green couch from the living room and drag it into the front yard.

“Are we just going to leave it here?” Tango asks.

“Oh bless your sweet little heart,” Bitty says, and the Frogs recoil. Then Bitty produces the lighter fluid.

“Is this legal?” Dex asks as Bitty douses the couch in the lighter fluid with a cheerful hum under his breath that is almost certainly a Beyoncé song.

“I checked with Shitty before I started anything,” Bitty says, beaming at all of them and lighting a match.

Dex doesn’t know if the act of arson on the front lawn is directly meant to intimidate the Lax bros across the street, but it does. He sees them watching nervously from their front porch, already drinking out of red solo cups despite the fact it’s early. Dex imagines they were ready to think the Haus was now ready to be overrun and emasculated because their new captain was 5’7 and 130 pounds. What the Lax bros failed to understand, Dex reflects, is that their new captain is 5’7 and 130 pounds of _fucking crazy_.

The Lax bros watch the Haus residents watch the couch burn.

“What’s our count?” Nursey asks and it takes Dex a moment to figure out what he’s talking about. He realises that he’s talking about the team-wide drinking game. It does seem like a momentous occasion to do shots, though.

“You’ve got the notebook,” Dex reminds him.

“Oh! Are you guys talking about the drinking game?” Tango asks.

“What drinking game?” Bitty asks.

“You know, if we have to make Chowder take a shot whenever he says ‘hella’ then maybe Bitty should have to do it when he says ‘eh’,” Dex suggests.

“It’s like you read my mind,” Nursey replies, flipping open his notebook. Dex notices the cramped, half-cursive, half-print, possibly Arabic letters included, completely illegible but very aesthetically pleasing scrawl on the opposite page. “Okay, Dexy, you’re at five, I’m at six and a half.”

“How did you get half a shot?” Dex demands, deciding to ignore the fact Nursey’s just called him Dexy. It’s a welcome change after spending the entire summer calling him Will. Dex hasn’t really been called Will by anyone outside his family since he started playing hockey when he was eight. He decides not to think about it.

“When I said ‘a’ but you thought I said ‘eh’ and so we added a half shot,” Nursey replies. “C, Tango, did either of you keep track over the summer?”

“Caitlin made me,” Chowder says.

“I still don’t know what y’all are talking about,” Bitty says.

“No one tell him,” Nursey says, tossing Bitty over his shoulder and heading for the Haus. “Tango! Grab the tequila!”

Nursey disappears into the Haus while Bitty shouts at him about “Derek Malik Nurse I am your captain and I will not be manhandled in this fashion,” leaving Chowder, Dex, and Tango in the front yard with the burning couch, laughing.

By the time it gets dark, the five of them are lying on the living room floor with two empty bottles of tequila nearby and each of them is giggling obnoxiously while Tango asks question after question. He seems very focused on why Lardo would have given him her dibs, and on whether or not they’re supposed to memorise the by-laws down in the basement behind the water heater, and whether they’re allowed to have sleepovers – at which point Nursey smacks him in the forehead.

“Come on, Tango, if we didn’t allow sleepovers, C would never get laid,” Nursey says. “Because Farmer’s gonna be over here all the time, just like she was last year.”

Tango lets this lie for a moment and then starts up on a new round of questions. Dex remembers being like that when he was a kid, when he was little. Back when he and all his siblings first moved in with Granny, he’d spent all his time asking questions. He’d driven Colin crazy, demanding to know what heaven was like, and how they could know for sure that it was where their parents were, and why God would take them and why Grandpa Poindexter was gone too, and whether they were all together. And then when he got older, he started asking questions Colin really didn’t like because eighteen year old football players don’t like it when their youngest brother starts asking questions about other boys. Dex stopped asking questions after that.

Thinking about it makes the tequila stop buzzing in his head.

“Come on guys, we should get to bed,” Bitty says. “We’ve got brunch tomorrow morning with the rest of the boys.”

He struggles upright and promptly falls over.

“Oh Captain my Captain,” Nursey starts. Dex had been surprised over the summer to learn that Nursey wasn’t just a writer of poems, but could quote other people’s at the drop of a hat. “Our fearful trip is done, the ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won--”

“You, stop,” Dex says, sitting upright and flicking Nursey in the shoulder. “Tango, can you stand?”

“I think so?” Tango says, sitting up. “Yeah. Yeah I can stand.”

“Okay,” Dex says. He considers. Nursey can probably stand but asking for fine motor skills from Derek Nurse on any given day is a bad bet, and asking it while he’s drunk is…well…there’s a reason for Nursey Patrol. Chowder, on the other hand, almost certainly cannot stand. Bitty…

“Okay, here’s the play,” Dex says. “Tango, grab our fearless leader. I’ll get Chowder, Nursey, you start crawling up the stairs and I’ll be back to help you when I can.”

It takes a lot of effort. As soon as Dex stands, his equilibrium gives up and he sways, both hands out to try and acquire some kind of balance. He manages to pull Chowder to his feet and drape an arm over his shoulder before staggering up the stairs. The whole way up to the second floor, Chowder babbles about how pretty Dex’s hair colour is in Chowder’s usual enthusiastic way.

“You know, I’ve got five older siblings, and all of them have the same colour hair,” Dex says, just to see Chowder’s jaw drop while he looks completely enthusiastic and amazed. Dex likes Chowder when he’s drunk because he’s so completely in love with everything around him. “And so do all my cousins and my uncles and my aunt, and my granny did back when she was younger, and--”

Chowder just gapes at him in awe as Dex drops him on his bed. The teal that fills the entire room is a little overwhelming and Dex, in his drunken state, feels like he’s been dropped into the middle of an aquarium. He makes sure Chowder has a glass of water and then returns to the hallway. Bitty and Tango are running into walls while they walk, so Dex takes over, stabilising both of them and steering Tango to his room. He collects Bitty and returns him to his bed. Bitty, it seems, has a stuffed bunny that is perched on his pillow. Dex raises his eyebrow at it and Bitty burns bright red.

“I just miss my boyfriend okay,” Bitty says with a hint of defiance. Dex doesn’t point out that as far as Bitty’s told anyone, he’s single.

He also doesn’t mean to say, “It’s okay, Bits, Pieces will be here tomorrow.”

Bitty looks confused, Dex feels confused, and he sees himself out. He didn’t mean to acknowledge that he and Nursey have agreed that Bitty and Jack are together, and he definitely didn’t mean to refer to Jack by Nursey’s stupid phone nickname for him, but he did. He can only hope that Bitty is currently too drunk to remember it tomorrow.

He finds Nursey just making it to the top of the stairs.

“Dex, help,” Nursey says. Dex sighs and grabs Nursey’s forearm. Regrettably, Nursey weighs slightly more than he does, so it takes a lot of effort to create enough ballast to pull him up. They overbalance and fall into the wall next to Tango’s door. It takes them a few minutes, but finally, they’re both standing and mostly stable, and shuffle off to the attic stairs.

“I’m top bunk,” Dex says, dropping Nursey on the bottom. Most of their stuff is still down in the living room, since they had forgotten to get it after Bitty torched the couch. Dex does his best to help Nursey out of his shoes and is halfway intending to help him with his jeans since Nursey is very obviously too drunk to do it himself, but then Nursey speaks.

“You’ll always be the top,” Nursey says, giving Dex a look.

Dex blames the tequila for the fact he interprets that as a dirty joke and decides it really is time to go to sleep.

* * *

 

The morning dawns too early, worse than when Granny wakes them up for mass. But at least this time they get coffee right off the bat. Dex struggles out of his top bunk first. Nursey is still face down on his bed, blanket only half over him, pillow half over his head. One of his legs is hanging off the side of the bed like he’s too warm. Dex rolls his eyes and heads downstairs in the hope the coffee he can smell is going to help with the hangover he’s got.

He finds in the kitchen not Bitty but Jack Zimmermann. Jack is making coffee and from the smell, there’s bacon in the oven. Dex yawns and drops to the kitchen table. Jack wordlessly offers him a cup of coffee.

“You look hungover,” Jack informs him.

“There was tequila,” Dex replies. He stirs a spoonful of sugar into his coffee. “There was a lot of tequila.”

“And the scorch marks in the front yard?” Jack prompts.

“Bitty torched the couch,” Dex explains.

Jack blinks once, twice, and then bursts out laughing. He’s loud enough that Dex has to cover his ears in pain.

Bitty is the next person to shuffle down the stairs and his eyes go huge when he sees Jack. Dex pretends not to notice Bitty is wearing a Zimmermann jersey, or that Jack’s whole face lights up. Instead he grabs a second mug of coffee, adds a splash of cream, and retreats.

“Oh, where are you goin’ Dex?” Bitty asks. His southern accent is always more pronounced when he’s tired, Dex notices.

“I was gonna go pour hot coffee on Nursey,” he replies. If he gives Jack and Bitty a significant look when he shuts the kitchen door, it’s unintentional. If he makes a show of stomping on the stairs so they know he’s gone, it’s because he’s too tired to care about his foot placement or what the stomping is doing to his knees.

The attic is poorly fitted out, he realises when he returns. Aside from the bunkbed, there’s one wardrobe that looks like something out of Narnia, and a dresser, with two Ikea desks shoved together so the people sitting at them would have to stare at each other. There’s nothing else.

Dex sets both cups of coffee on the desks and pulls the pillow off his bed. Nursey is still asleep, although now one of his hands is hanging off the side of the bed as well. It’s his left hand, the inside of his forearm completely covered in black ink. Dex doesn’t know the poems, and this doesn’t seem like the moment to try and read Nursey’s tattoos. For one thing, it would require getting way too close to him, and…and that’s not something Dex can handle easily at the best of moments.

He could be very childish, he thinks. He could go get a bowl of warm water and drop Nursey’s hand in it, just because, but that seems unnecessary. He tries not to remember how many times his brothers had done shit like that to him when he was a little kid. There’s a reason he’d fought Iain for the top bunk when they were eight and eleven.

Instead, Dex tightens his grip on his pillow and smacks Nursey in the back with it. Nursey flails wildly, knocking the pillow off his face in the process. His hand smacks Dex in the calf in its flailing, and Dex only has time to see the hint of a mischievous smirk on Nursey’s face before he’s grabbed by the ankle and has his feet pulled out from under him. He lands on the attic floor with a thud and groans.

“Now I’m regretting not dropping your hand in a bowl of hot water,” Dex grumbles while Nursey snorts.

“Is it brunch time?” Nursey asks, yawning and sitting up. He rubbed a hand across his face and then through his hair. 

Over the summer, Dex had become accustomed to the absolute chaos that is Derek Nurse’s hair in the morning. It looks like every curl has decided it’s going to run off in its own direction without any thought for what the others are doing. The only time all summer that Dex saw Nursey disagree with Granny on something, it had been the time she tried to brush his hair. Considering that when she did, Nursey’s hair had turned frizzy and giant and made him resemble Einstein a little too closely, Dex understood.

“Jack put bacon in the oven,” Dex says. “And then Bitty showed up so I grabbed coffee and left.”

“Aw, Dex, did you bring me coffee?” Nursey asks, grinning at him.

“No,” Dex lies, sitting down at one of the desks and drinking his own coffee.

“You’d rather die than take cream in your coffee, hand it over,” Nursey commands, making a grabby hand motion at the cup.

Dex huffs and hands Nursey the coffee.

“I don’t know why you pretend you don’t like me,” Nursey says. He takes a drink of his coffee and his face brightens. “Since we’re mad best friends.”

“Gotta keep you on your toes,” Dex says, even though this is such bullshit he’s almost disappointed in himself.

Because Derek Nurse is a problem, has been a problem, in Dex’s life. When they were freshmen it was entirely a matter of clashing life backgrounds wherein neither of them took a spare moment to figure out where the other one was coming from. And then partway through the year they decided that perhaps they could be friends as long as they ignored the other stuff, only for Nursey to spend the entire summer between freshman and sophomore years snapchatting Dex and Chowder and all of the pictures were just of his empty house in New York. Sophomore year they’d got to be close friends, even, and Dex couldn’t in good conscience let him go back to New York to spend the summer alone again. Because they’re friends.

Because they’re friends and the one snap Nursey had sent that was of a picture of his minimalist living room with the caption “turns out my house echoes” still haunts Dex sometimes.

“How long are we going to give them?” Nursey asks, drinking his coffee and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

Dex shrugs and finishes his own cup. It seems like the opportune moment to go get more, since now he’s out, but assuming they’re right and Bitty and Jack _are_ dating, they probably haven’t seen each other in a while.

They go back to the kitchen fifteen minutes later and absolutely do not notice the fact Jack’s hair is rumpled or Bitty’s lips are red.

Chowder and Tango appear while Bitty works on the pancakes, and then the front door bursts open. Ransom, Holster, Shitty, and Lardo pile into the kitchen in a giant group tackle hug. Dex is glad as hell to see them and even allows Ransom to ruffle his hair. They spend brunch plotting to head over to Faber to skate together, since what fools wouldn’t take the opportunity to play with two NHL stars.

Dex is very glad to be back on the ice, and he and Nursey even play okay despite the fact they haven’t played in months. Holster and Jack are the best, obviously, since they’ve both gone pro, but Chowder’s still in fighting form. Dex is pretty sure he’s hoping to go pro.

After their scrimmage (Dex, Nursey, Jack, and Bitty had won by a point) they return to the Haus to catch up. Jack, of course, is still in Providence settling into his life there. Shitty is driving himself crazy at Harvard, but at least he and Lardo are living together. Dex is really unclear on how they’re financing this, since Lardo’s income is from her art and Shitty had to sign an agreement not to seek employment while in law school so that he didn’t fucking die of stress, but he doesn’t ask. Ransom and Holster are preparing to move to Seattle so that Ransom can go to med school at UW and Holster can play for the Schooners. Tango is too in awe of the fact he’s having food and staying in the same house with _the_ Jack Zimmermann and _the_ Adam Birkholtz to really ask questions which is shocking.

It’s later that night that the four defence men troop up to the attic and realise they have to make a decision about sleeping arrangements.

“Look, I don’t care if you guys are or aren’t together, but I really don’t want to wake up to you cuddling,” Nursey says, claiming his bottom bunk.

Ransom makes some noise of deep offence which Holster protests, and then somehow, Dex finds himself sharing the air mattress with Holster while Nursey and Ransom smirk at them from the bunkbed.

“You lived with him here for three years?” Dex asks, raising his eyebrow at Holster.

“Yup,” Holster says, throwing a balled up pair of socks at Ransom’s head. It goes wide because Holster is a hockey player, rather than a participant in any sport that requires a good throwing arm.

“Hey!” Ransom protests.

“Be careful, Rans, the ghosts are gonna goose you,” Holster says, hiding his head under his pillow.

“The ghosts aren’t real!” Ransom insists.

“Whatever you say man,” Nursey says with a yawn. Dex snorts.

He wakes up in the morning with a very heavy weight across his chest. To his dismay, but not surprise, he discovers Holster sleeping across him.

Dex is not a small person. He’s the tallest of his brothers, he’s got the broadest shoulders, he plays hockey. But Holster is taller, broader, and plays hockey professionally and try as he might, Dex can’t move him. He tries to shove Holster off, but it does no good. He lays there for a moment, glowering at the ceiling, until he becomes aware someone’s staring at him. He turns to look and sees Nursey smirking at him.

“This is your fault,” Dex whispers, because he doesn’t actually want to wake Holster up, he just wants to get out of bed.

“How is this my fault?” Nursey whispers back. He’s still smirking, goddamn him.

“Because you’re the one who said they couldn’t share a bed,” Dex says. Nursey laughs and Dex reaches over to smack him in the arm. This just makes Nursey laugh harder and Dex wants to glower at him, but feels himself start laughing anyway. This wakes up Holster, at least a little, because he reaches up and covers Dex’s mouth with a giant hand and makes a shushing noise. Nursey starts laughing hysterically, which wakes Holster up properly.

At first he looks discombobulated and then Nursey hands him his glasses.

“Oh, morning Dex,” Holster says, all casual like he didn’t just have his face buried in Dex’s sternum or both arms wrapped around him. Nursey doesn’t stop laughing.

* * *

 

Jack’s birthday passes without too many shenanigans. Sure, Shitty clings to him like a koala for most of the day, and Bitty makes seven pies, and Lardo makes use of the fact they’re all together again to destroy Holster and Ransom at pong, but nothing scandalous happens. Bitty and Jack don’t admit they’re dating, Shitty doesn’t find cause to lecture them all about gender roles and bad assumptions, Chowder only fanboys a little over Jack. That night, Dex revolts and throws Ransom out of the top bunk and into the air mattress with Holster. In the morning, Holster is wrapped around Ransom the same way he was wrapped around Dex the day before, but the difference is Ransom also has his arms around Holster.

“Do you think we should tell them?” Shitty says when Dex appears in the kitchen.

“Tell who what?” Dex asks.

“Ransom and Holster,” Lardo supplies. “Shitty thinks we should tell them.”

“Tell them what?” Dex asks, filling his coffee cup and joining them at the table.

“That they’re dating,” Shitty says.

Dex doesn’t offer an opinion either way since it seems sort of invasive to him to tell other people that they’re dating. But on the other hand, it is Ransom and Holster.

No decision is made.

It’s much later while they’re all piled into the living room watching Shitty and Chowder battle each other in Mario Kart. Ransom is on his laptop muttering angrily under his breath about things Dex doesn’t understand. He seems to be criticising grocery store options.

“Don’t even have a stop and shop,” Ransom mutters.

“What are you talking about?” Dex asks.

“Seattle doesn’t have a Stop and Shop,” Ransom says, throwing his hands up in the air. “There’s some bullshit called a QFC? And a MMM? And why are all the grocery stores in acronyms?”

“You know Rans, you could have gone to a different med school,” Lardo says. Dex raises his eyebrow at her but she doesn’t look at him, too invested in Shitty and Chowder’s game.

“Different med school,” Ransom repeats blankly.

“You know, one not in Seattle,” Shitty says. “Oh YOU MOTHERFUCKER DON’T DROP THAT BLUE FUCKING--”

“Yeah but the Schooners play in Seattle,” Ransom says like this solves everything and like Shitty hasn’t just devolved into profanity in the middle of a sentence.

“You could’ve gone to a med school that didn’t require you following Holster,” Lardo says.

Everyone in the room turns to look at Ransom and Holster, both of whom look confused.

“I don’t understand,” Ransom says.

“You could’ve branched out and gone your own way,” Shitty says.

Both Holster and Ransom are staring, their brows furrowed because they still don’t understand.

“You guys,” Lardo says. “My bros. My favourite d-men.”

“Hey!” Dex and Nursey protest in eerily perfect unison. Lardo waves them off.

“Guys,” Lardo says. “Rans, you’re perfectly welcome to go to the University of Washington, you’re welcome to live in the same apartment like you’re planning to, but you guys have to promise me something.”

“What is it?” Holster asks. He’s turning a little pink, which Dex understands because he’s definitely a nervous blusher.

“Please, for the love of god, admit that you’re in a committed, exclusive relationship,” Shitty says. “Maybe it’s not sexual, but for fuck’s sake bros.”

There’s an awkward silence in the living room punctuated only by Shitty losing spectacularly to Chowder. Everyone else is staring at Ransom and Holster, who are going different shades of pink.

“I--” Ransom starts, and then stops because he seems to be choking on his words.

“Come on, like, just because I’m bi doesn’t mean I fell in love with my best friend,” Holster says. He scoffs, or he tries, but there’s something a little too genuine in his voice for that.

There’s a beat of silence, and then Ransom explodes.

“Since when are you bi?” he demands. He’s about to flip his laptop by accident so Dex reaches over and snags it before he can.

“Since always, bro, I thought you knew that!” Holster replies. Dex feels a pressing urge to creep out of the room since there are very clearly some emotions spilling out of Ransom and Holster. If Dex were going to write it down, the “e” at the front of “emotions” would have to be capitalised.

“No! No I thought you were Straighty McStraightbro!” Ransom snaps.

“You’re one to fucking talk!” Holster says.

“I’m following you to fucking _Seattle_!” Ransom says. “Do you know how much it rains there?”

“Bro--” Holster starts, but he’s cut off when Ransom tackles him across the new couch and kisses him. When they don’t come up for air after a few minutes and Holster’s hands get a bit too friendly with Ransom’s ass, the rest of them exchange uncomfortable looks.

“Get a fucking room,” Shitty says.

“Please,” Lardo adds.

With some prodding from Chowder’s hockey stick, Ransom and Holster peel themselves up off the couch and stumble up the stairs. In an abstract way, Dex is a little impressed by their commitment to kissing, since they haven’t stopped yet. For just a second he wonders if anyone is ever going to kiss him like that, but he shakes it off.

“And it’s about fucking time!” Shitty shouts after them. “Jesus fucking Christ on a cupcake.”

“Don’t be too proud, you’re next,” Bitty informs him, taking a calm drink of his beer. Shitty and Lardo start swearing at him while Bitty giggles. Dex closes Ransom’s laptop and puts it safely on the kitchen table before something can happen to it. Nursey finds him in the kitchen.

“You know they’re going to our room, right?” Nursey says. “Holster and Ransom. They’re going to our room.”

Dex hadn’t considered this, but he cringes when he does.

“Well, on the bright side, if they forget about the air mattress, they’ll take your bunk,” he says. Nursey glowers at him while Dex smirks. He heads to the fridge to find more left over pie from the day before, spoons some of Bitty’s homemade whipped cream on it (the first time one of them brought a can of Redi-whip into the Haus Bitty had smacked it out of their hands and ranted for an hour) and leans against the counter to eat it. Nursey grabs a second fork from the drawer and helps himself to some of Dex’s pie. It takes most of Dex’s willpower not to stab him in the hand. He settles for glowering.

Dex doesn’t want to think about it, about Ransom and Holster upstairs. He doesn’t want to dwell on the fact they were playing next to each other for their four years of college, he doesn’t want to think about them living together in the same room for three years, being so fucking in synch that they were going to move across the country together without ever talking about the fact they were in love. Like it was somehow so naturally ingrained in their personalities that they thought they didn’t need to talk about it. He wonders what they would’ve done if Shitty and Lardo hadn’t brought it up. If they’d gone to Seattle together, each thinking they were in love with a straight boy but not letting that get in the way of the fact they were going to be together, since that was the most important part. It makes Dex’s chest hurt thinking about it, but he’s never going to admit that.

“Can you even imagine?” Nursey says, adding more whipped cream to the pie.

“Imagine what?” Dex asks. “Ransom and Holster fucking on your bed, because I don’t really want to.”

“Nah, brah,” Nursey says. “Just…like…being so drift-compatible with someone without noticing that you’re both in love with each other.”

Dex doesn’t want to, but he glances at Nursey out of the corner of his eye. When he realises Nursey is looking back, he burns bright red and looks down at his pie.

“What?” Nursey asks. Dex can’t look at him again.

Dex considers for just a second allowing himself to think it – for just a second he considers letting himself think about the fact that he likes Nursey, he really likes Nursey. He can see a moment when he would want to kiss him, want to touch him and bicker with him over who gets the top bunk until they both just decide to share. He thinks it for just a second, and then shakes his head.

“I don’t know, man, I’m just a little shocked a poet like you has seen _Pacific Rim_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I'm in my last two weeks of undergrad (*incoherent shrieking*) I am hella busy right now, but I will be working on updating this soon. Probably at the same time I'm supposed to be working on editing my capstone thesis. 
> 
> I'll comment on the status of this fic on [tumblr](http://www.omgericzimmermann.tumblr.com), and the updates can be found on the sidebar of my blog.


	3. What's Your Number?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your patience! I'm sorry this took so long, but I have now officially finished college. I have, like, a diploma and shit. Which is terrifying, but whatever.
> 
> Massive shoutout and thank you to my new beta reader [Catsilhouette!](http://catsilhouette.tumblr.com)

Ransom and Holster are exactly as disgusting as Nursey and Dex had assumed. Nursey attempts at some point during the day to go back up to the attic, but there’s a sock on the door and he spent enough of his freshman and sophomore years sexiled by his roommates to know that he does not want to go in that room. Not to mention the noises. Nursey really doesn’t want pictures to go with them. He retreats downstairs and joins everyone in the living room where Shitty and Chowder are still battling each other at MarioKart.

“Yeah, we’re gonna have to find somewhere else to sleep,” Nursey says, dropping to the floor next to Dex. He resists the urge to list sideways and use Dex as a pillow.

“You can’t have the couch,” Tango says. “It’s mine.”

“You two took over poor Tango’s room?” Bitty demands, throwing a pillow at Shitty and Lardo.

“It was our room first,” Shitty says with a shrug. “GOD FUCKING DAMMIT CHOWDER!” He throws the controller on the couch.

“This never would have happened if you let me play Peach,” he grumbles.

Chowder laughs and does the same victory

dance he does every time the Sharks score a goal. Nursey can’t help but smile – they shouldn’t have made Chowder watch Risky Business last year. Dex is laughing so hard his eyes are all crinkled up, and Nursey feels something warm inside his chest.

“Dex and Nursey, you guys can crash with me,” Chowder says, once he sits back down.

“Farmer’s not gonna show up is she?” Dex asks.

“She’s still in California,” Chowder says, frowning. “Pre-season doesn’t start for another two weeks so she’s still back home.”

“Sorry man,” Nursey says, clapping him on the knee. He has to reach across Dex to do this, his forearm pressing against Dex’s chest, and Dex frowns at him until he moves his arm.

“It’s okay,” Chowder says. “We can have a Frog party.”

“Wait, so if you guys are still Frogs, and I was a tadpole last year, but now I’m not a tadpole, but I’m not a Frog, and--”

“Don’t think about it too hard,” Lardo recommends, patting Tango on the head. He looks a little miffed about this but doesn’t say anything. Nursey’s proud of him for growing as a person.

That night finds him and Dex unceremoniously dropped onto an air mattress in Chowder’s room. Jack had delivered it saying that Bitty had an extra one. Nursey privately wonders how exactly Jack and Bitty are managing to share Bitty’s single bed, but doesn’t think about it too hard.

Chowder spends most of the night chattering away about the Sharks being in the Stanley Cup finally and how amazing it was. He proudly shows them his new Jo Pawvelski plushie that he picked up at home that summer. Neither Dex nor Nursey chirp him about this since Shitty is in the Haus and would materialise through the bathroom door to shout at them for toxic masculinity and its various effects on the human psyche and probably bring up the fact that a truly alarming number of the people on their hockey team are some form of queer and regardless of that, the plushie is really adorable and Nursey nearly steals it for himself. He doesn’t because he’s pretty sure Chowder would cry.

Chowder finally stops talking about the Sharks at two in the morning and turns off the light.

“If I wake up to you sleeping on me the same way Holster did,” Dex threatens as the two of them start to fall asleep.

“You should feel free to slap me,” Nursey says, even though he’d really like to spend the night cuddling Dex. But then again, they’re back in Massachusetts, which is substantially warmer than Maine in the summer, and it’s August and Nursey is very warm blooded and if he so much as looks at a blanket he’ll break into a sweat and probably die of heatstroke, so maybe cuddling Dex at this point would be a bad idea all around.

Dex, to his horror, wraps up in all the blankets they’d been granted by Jack and goes to sleep with just the tops of his hair visible over the edge of the blanketing. Nursey lets it go as Dex being weird and falls asleep.

He wakes up to bright sunlight and unbearable heat. At first he thinks he’s been dropped in the sun itself but realises quickly that this is an unlikely scenario. After a few moments of overheated breathing, he discovers that the source of his discomfort is Dex. Dex, who has pressed up against his side, thrown one leg across his hips, wrapped the other around his calf, and has one arm tight across Nursey’s chest. Where their legs are touching, Nursey’s skin is sticky with sweat and boiling hot. He can’t even fully appreciate the fact that Dex’s face is so close to his, can’t appreciate the way the morning light through Chowder’s window is making Dex’s freckles look like drops of sun, or the way it’s turned his normally orange eyelashes bright gold, or how peaceful Dex looks when he’s asleep. He can’t appreciate any of this because he’s about to melt faster than a snowman in summer.

“Dex,” he says. His voice is hoarse from sleep and he can’t move because Dex has him pinned.

Dex doesn’t stir.

“Dex you’ve gotta move,” Nursey begs. “Please, Dex, I’m dying.”

Dex makes some small noise of comprehension like he’s maybe heard Nursey but he doesn’t move.

Nursey moves his head and sees that Chowder’s bed is empty, so there’s no one around to help. Nursey doesn’t know what he’s going to do because very soon he’s going to actually die of over-heating and Dex is still sound asleep and, okay, so he’s happy to be cuddling with Dex, but now it’s occurring to him that if he’s ever going to have a long term relationship with Dex they’re going to need to move to the Yukon or Alaska or Antarctica or something because Nursey’s going to melt if they don’t and –

“See? I told you,” Chowder’s voice says from the doorway.

“Aw, they’re so damn cute,” Shitty’s voice replies. “Nursey since when do you blush?”

“I’m not I don’t I’m dying make him move please God help me--” Nursey says.

Shitty and Chowder laugh and Nursey thinks he hears the sound of a camera but he sincerely hopes not. He definitely hears Dex mumbling, though, and can just barely make out the words.

“What did you say? Are you awake right now?” Nursey demands.

“I said chill,” Dex mumbles slightly louder and Nursey’s going to scream.

Then Dex actually wakes up. He blinks and looks groggy and then realises he’s clinging to Nursey and scrambles to the other side of the air mattress.

“And twenty points to Dex for the sleep-chirp,” Shitty says. “Or, if you will, the slirp.”

All three of the Frogs look at him for a second in mute horror.

“Dude, I thought I told you not to touch me in my sleep!” Dex says, glowering at Nursey who’s just too damn relieved not to be overheated anymore he can’t even chirp back. What a relief it is to breathe.

“You’re the one who octopused me,” he explains. “Because you’re always fucking cold. How do you stand playing hockey on the _ice_?”

“I just get cold when I sleep!” Dex insists, his whole face going red. “And you’re a goddamn furnace so – ”

“Mine are desert people, okay? We have to fight off cold desert nights and shit,” Nursey replies.

“You’re from Manhattan,” Chowder says. He sounds confused, and Nursey’s a little embarrassed to admit he forgot Chowder and Shitty were there thanks to the distraction of Will J. Poindexter clinging to him.

“Yeah, but like before that,” Nursey says, clambering out of the bed and revelling in the fresh breeze blowing through Chowder’s open window. It clings to his sticky skin, especially the overly warm spot where Dex’s calf had been glued to his.

“You guys are worse than Ransom and Holster,” Shitty says. He says it casually, like he doesn’t have any idea what that implication is doing to Nursey’s nervous system. “Apparently Holster sleep-snuggles Ransom because Ransom is from the far northern wilderness of Canada and he’s warmer or something.”

Nursey, Dex, and Chowder frown at him.

“Holster does understand that Buffalo and Toronto are sixty -three miles apart,” Dex says. “Right? Like, he does know that? It’s important to me that he knows that.”

“I think pretty much every excuse Rans and Holtzy have had for touching each other over the past five years have been thinly veiled excuses for having physical contact,” Shitty says. “Let’s be real here. They did spend the entire night upstairs fucking each other.”

Dex looks like he might want to argue, but eventually he doesn’t, opting instead to get up and steal the bathroom before Nursey can get there. It was like that all summer though, so Nursey’s used to it.

“You okay there Nursey? You look like you’re about to burst into flames,” Shitty says, still all casual. Why is he so chill.

“Don’t you start with me,” Nursey says, glowering at him and slumping downstairs to the kitchen. Bitty is making cinnamon apple waffles and one of their Canadians has provided authentic maple syrup.

“Oh! Nursey!” Bitty says. He eyes him and Nursey tactfully doesn’t comment on the fact Bitty has stubble burn in a few places and a fading hickey just below the neckline of his shirt.

“Morning,” Nursey says, grabbing a cup of coffee and putting a dash of cream in it. He almost makes Dex a cup but he’s still too mad about Dex being mad at him for the fact Dex had decided to aggressively snuggle him in his sleep.

“That was awful kind of you to let Dex use you as a pillow,” Bitty says, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. When Nursey frowns at him, Bitty taps his phone. With a groan, Nursey checks his own phone. The SMH group text has lit up with a picture of Dex wrapped around him courtesy of Shitty.

“Awesome,” Nursey grumbles.

“I think y’all are cute,” Bitty says. He shrugs. “Even if Dex isn’t…”

And Nursey sighs to himself, because there’s that other flaw in his half-baked plan to get Dex to fall in love with him. Dex is very firmly in the closet.

* * *

 

Everyone who doesn’t live in the Haus leaves two days after Jack’s birthday. Jack has to go back to Providence for training (“Oh, you shouldn’t have to drive by yourself! I’ll go with you and take the train back! It’ll be fun!” Bitty says), Shitty and Lardo have to go back to their studio apartment because Shitty has to start his internship at a law firm in Cambridge, and Ransom and Holster are leaving for Seattle (“August is supposed to be one of the good months,” Ransom says, beaming at Holster as they leave. “And plus, I can keep you warm during the cold months,” Holster says. “Bro, I spent all of college keeping _you_ warm during the winter months, do you really think it’s gonna change in real life?” Ransom replies).

The Haus is very empty with them all gone, even if Bitty’s going to be back that night (Bitty texts at 9 pm to say he missed the last train home and darn it wouldn’t you know it he’s got to stay the night in Providence).

“Is this what it’s going to be like next year?” Tango asks as the four of them squish onto New Couch to watch reruns of _M*A*S*H_. “All…all quiet and stuff?”

“Nah, brah,” Nursey says. “Not quite.”

“Not quite?” Tango repeats.

“Bitty’s got to give his dibs to someone,” Nursey points out. “My money’s on Whiskey.”

“Really?” Dex asks.

“Well it would have been his son Chowder, but C’s already got a room,” Nursey points out.

“I’m not Bitty’s son,” Chowder protests, but there’s no heat in it.

“Yeah you are,” Nursey, Dex, and Tango inform him.

“Wait, but since Jack gave Chowder his dibs, does that mean that Jack and Bitty share parentage of Chowder?” Tango asks.

“Yeah,” Dex and Nursey agree.

“So…are they dating?” Tango asks.

There’s a moment of silence in the living room. Dex and Nursey exchange looks while Chowder looks like he’s just been smacked in the face with a stick.

After a long silence he takes a deep breath and his eyes go wide.

“Dude that would be so ‘swawsome,” Chowder breathes.

“Yeah, C, you could have four parents who truly love each other and everything,” Nursey says.

Nursey doesn’t usually think about his friends’ families, and does his absolute best to never ever think about his own, but for about half a second, he sort of wishes that he had been the Frog Jack and Bitty adopted.

Bitty returns late the next afternoon with more hidden hickeys and more stubble burn and none of them comment, but Nursey sees Chowder’s eyes go wide with barely suppressed glee.

The remaining week before pre-season is spent drinking and plotting to break into the lax bros house and wreak havoc when they get the opportunity. Tango is all in for this with an intensity Nursey had not been expecting. When the rest of the team shows up over the next few days, Whiskey also gets on board with the “fuck the lax bros” plan. Nursey doesn’t want to read too much into it, but he can’t shake the suspicion it’s weirdly personal for the two of them. But Nursey’s not going to anger their starting centre and left forwards as they’re heading into pre-season.

But he does bring it up to Dex.

“Hey,” he says, kicking the underside of Dex’s bed a few nights later.

“What,” Dex says. Nursey can hear the glare in his voice.

“Hey why do you think the tadpoles are so into messing with the lax bros?” Nursey asks.

“I don’t know or really care, can I please go to sleep?” Dex mumbles.

“Okay grumpy cat,” Nursey says, and suddenly he’s got the best worst idea ever. “Do you have enough blankets?”

“Please fuck off,” Dex says, and Nursey laughs.

He laughs even harder when Dex gets a mystery package in the mail a few days later.

“Why are you laughing?” Dex asks. “It’s probably just cookies from Granny.”

Nursey wishes for a second that it was cookies from Granny Poindexter, but tragically, he knows what it is, and it’s not that.

Dex opens the box and pulls the plush grey cloth from inside. He frowns at it and then unfolds the blanket. A giant picture of Grumpy Cat frowns back.

Dex looks at Nursey over the top edge of the blanket with a dead eyed stare and suddenly Nursey worries for his safety. Before he can effectively run away, Dex has him in a headlock, and they’re right back where they were that summer. Nursey’s face is pressed against Dex’s chest, the hard muscle warm beneath the fabric of Dex’s t-shirt, and Dex smells so goddamn good and Nursey is so, so fucked.

“A Grumpy Cat blanket are you fucking kidding me?” Dex demands and Nursey is relieved to hear him laughing.

“The website says they’re supposed to be really warm,” Nursey says. “I mean, if it weren’t summer, I’d say you could just sleep with me, but it’s summer and I’ll die.”

He doesn’t really mean to say it, or sound so dramatic, and regrets it as soon as he does. Dex lets go of him in a hurry and picks up his Grumpy Cat blanket. Dex’s face is flushed, half his freckles disappearing.

“I’m sorry about that,” he says. “I didn’t mean to…to invade your personal space without permission.”

“Bro don’t worry about it,” Nursey says, scratching his jaw. There’s a heavy layer of stubble there. “I’ve got to go shave.”

He runs from the room much faster than he should for the circumstance. But it’s fine, Dex isn’t going to read too much into it. That, or he is, and then he’ll figure out Nursey genuinely meant it when he invited Dex to sleep with him in the not summer months and…and then nothing, because Dex does not think of Nursey that way, and that’s perfectly fine.

It’s fine.

* * *

 

Nursey tries not to dwell. He doesn’t do a very good job at it, but he does try. Fortunately, he’s distracted by Bitty wanting to know everything else about their summer and co-opting Dex into being his sous chef while Nursey is banished to the kitchen table under explicit instruction that he isn’t to touch anything.

“Mostly I just taught him how to drive,” Dex says with a shrug, not looking at Nursey. He hasn’t really looked at Nursey since the day Nursey gave him the Grumpy Cat blanket.

“And we went and watched the fireworks on Fourth of July and I spent most of the summer watching Dex fix things,” Nursey adds. He spent most of the summer just watching Dex once he figured out the quickly-turning-awful truth that he happens to be in love with him. And now that he’d said something stupid about cuddling, Dex wouldn’t even look at him.

“And you still haven’t figured out how to fix anything yourself,” Dex chirps, finally looking at Nursey and raising his eyebrow. Nursey grins.

“But then I wouldn’t have to get you to fix it for me, Dexy,” he says. Dex scoffs and turns back to mixing the pecan pie filling under Bitty’s direct tutelage. But he’s smiling.

“And Dex, you live with your grandma don’t you?” Bitty asks.

“Yeah,” Dex and Nursey say.

“Granny Poindexter’s fuckin’ awesome,” Nursey supplies. “Her cookies are almost as good as yours.”

“Hey!” Dex says, flicking a pecan at him. Nursey laughs and eats it, since it’s entirely covered in sugar and corn syrup and butter and so, so sweet.

Nursey almost mentions that Granny Poindexter knows Dex isn’t entirely straight, but being badass as she is, she hasn’t forced him to out himself. But he remembers that Dex doesn’t know Granny Poindexter knows, and that would require explaining why _he_ knows that Granny Poindexter knows, and he doesn’t think Dex will be entirely receptive to the idea Granny Poindexter told Nursey to make Dex happy. There’s also the problem that _Bitty_ doesn’t know Dex isn’t straight, and although Nursey knows for a fact Bitty would not care, at all, he’s not going to be that asshole.

“And how many siblings do you have?” Bitty asks. “Because I can’t even imagine having siblings. It must be kinda nice, even if Nursey did say about your oldest brother…”

“Yeah, well, Colin’s an asshole,” Dex says. “But Jamie and Siobhan and Iain and Assumpta are fine.”

“Jamie kind of seemed like he was Colin’s lackey,” Nursey says. Dex shrugs. “And Iain kinda hated me because I stole his bed.”

“I don’t think it’s fair to judge my siblings’ characters based on their feelings towards you,” Dex says.

Nursey almost mentions Assumpta’s flirting with him, but Dex gets there first.

“Besides, I thought you and Assumpta got along just fine,” Dex says. It almost sounds perfectly innocent. But there’s a tiny hint of bitterness there and Nursey doesn’t know what to do with that.

“She just kept flirting with me,” Nursey says. He notices that Dex’s shoulders are getting tenser, and Bitty looks concerned. “Which is fine if you go for lanky redheads.”

Which he does, just lanky redheads named Will Poindexter, rather than Assumpta Poindexter. But Dex’s shoulders have retreated towards his ears and his knuckles are turning white on the handle of the spoon and Nursey cringes.

“Not that I’m wheeling on your sister, bro, don’t worry about it,” Nursey says. Because obviously Dex is being a protective brother. Assumpta’s the next youngest after Dex and he’s pretty sure they’re only eleven months apart or something. No one wants their best friend to be wheeling on their sister.

“It’s fine,” Dex says with unnatural calmness. “She was homecoming queen a few years in a row and stuff. I get it.”

Nursey denies it a few more times, and Dex’s shoulder relax from his ears, but the tension doesn’t dissipate from the room.

* * *

 

A few days later, Nursey is tired when he steps into the shower. He’s not really hungover, he just hasn’t had his coffee yet. He turns on the water, realises he’s just got into a cold shower, and jumps out.

While he waits for the water to heat up, he brushes his teeth and considers shaving before deciding against it. His face doesn’t itch yet and he’s been told that stubble is a good look. He climbs back into the shower, but now the water is too warm, and he’s not entirely sure how it happens, but he slips, shouts, and suddenly most of the shower is lying on top of him. There’s a banging noise from outside and then Dex, Bitty, Chowder, and Tango are all inside the bathroom as well, staring down at him while the remains of the shower head spits water at him. The shower curtain has fallen down and is lying on top of him. 

“How...” Tango starts. 

“Because he’s Nursey,” Bitty says, giving him a disapproving look. 

“You can go use our shower,” Chowder offers. 

“Thanks,” Nursey says, sitting up and turning off the water. His four Hausmates are snickering at him and there’s not anything he can do about that, so he gets up and grabs his towel, wiping the bits of shower off him. 

“Dex, can you fix it?” Nursey hears Bitty ask while he walks across the hall to Chowder and Tango’s shower. 

“Yeah,” Dex says.  They don’t have practice that day, so as soon as Nursey gets out of the shower, he grabs a cup of coffee and heads back upstairs. Dex is in the bathroom trying to fix the shower. Even though Nursey spent all summer watching Dex fix things, he can’t help but stare. Dex is wearing a flannel shirt rolled up to the elbows and one of his many pairs of beat -up jeans. He’s cursing under his breath and Nursey thinks he catches his own name a few times. 

“I’m sorry,” he says. 

“It’s fine,” Dex replies without looking at him. He’s putting up the showerhead and then drops it, swearing. “It’s totally broken. How did you do that?”

“I have no idea,” Nursey says. “I’m sorry.”

“I have to go to the hardware store,” Dex says. He steps out of the tub and runs a hand through his hair in irritation. “You’re paying.”

“That’s fair,” Nursey says, following him down the stairs. 

“Oh! If y’all are going out would you go by the Stop and Shop and grab me some butter?” Bitty calls after them. 

“Yeah,” Nursey says. “Anyone else?”

“Starbucks run?” Chowder suggests. 

“Sure,” Nursey says. 

They go to the hardware store and to Nursey’s complete confusion, he actually knows what the things are. The sales associate asks if he can help them find anything, if they know what they’re looking for, but Dex obviously does know what he’s looking for and doesn’t need help, and when he mentions to the sales associate what it is, Nursey’s actually familiar. It occurs to him properly then – he actually had a summer job for the first time in his life and knows his way around a hardware store now.

They pick up the things Dex needs and head for the Stop and Shop and then the Starbucks closest to the Haus. Nursey thinks he sees Whiskey at a corner table in the back, far away from the windows with a complete stranger, but that seems unlikely so he lets it go.

They return to the Haus with Bitty’s latte and Chowder’s caramel macchiato and Dex retreats upstairs to work on the shower. Nursey follows and perches against the sink while Dex starts fixing his mess.

“Are you really going to sit there the whole time?” Dex asks without looking at him.

“Well, yeah,” Nursey says. They don’t have practice, they don’t have homework yet, and it’s what he spent all summer doing, even if things have been weird since Nursey got Dex the Grumpy Cat blanket.

“As long as you don’t invite me to shower with you or whatever,” Dex says.

“Bro, the sleeping together thing was a joke,” Nursey insists even though it wasn’t.

“Yeah, I know, it just wasn’t funny,” Dex replies.

Nursey rolls his eyes and then his phone buzzes. He pulls it out to see a new text from an unknown number. It’s from a 207 area code which he isn’t familiar with. Nursey checks the text and feels a little like he’s just been punched in the solar plexus.

==+1 (207) 555-8689 ==

**+1 (207) 555-8689:** hey Derek! I hope you don’t mind but I asked Will for your phone number!

**==**

On some level, Nursey knows who it is, because there are very few people who call him Derek. But he can hope he’s wrong.

“Hey, did you give my phone number to someone recently?” Nursey asks.

Dex stiffens and stops tightening the lug nut that holds the showerhead to the water pipe. His ears go red.

“Uh,” he says.

“Real eloquent, Poindexter,” Nursey grumbles.

Because how could Dex do that? He knew it bugged him when Dex’s sister spent all the time when she was supposed to be visiting Granny Poindexter hitting on Nursey. But then again, they had that conversation with Bitty about Assumpta and maybe Dex really did think Nursey was wheeling on her and this was his way of saying it was okay for him to…to what? To date his sister? Jesus fucking Christ. 

== +1 (207) 555-8689==

**Me:** Hey, Assumpta

**+1 (207) 555-8689** : Hey Derek! How’s the pre-season treating you? Dex says it’s very stressful.

**Me:** nah it’s not that bad. Our captain’s a softie

**+1 (207) 555-8689:** lol must be nice ☺

==

Nursey doesn’t ask Dex what would possibly possess him to give Assumpta his number. He doesn’t want to think about it too hard. This is mostly because his pessimistic side says he gave Assumpta his number because he thinks Nursey might have been interested in her. The optimistic side of him says that perhaps Dex gave Assumpta his number so that Nursey would corner him in the attic and inform him straight up that Assumpta is the wrong Poindexter.

Nursey tries not to think about it as the school year gets closer. Assumpta keeps texting him and Dex keeps half-heartedly avoiding him, and Nursey is really fucking frustrated by all of it, so he takes up a hobby. It’s not necessarily a healthy hobby, but it keeps him entertained at the very least.

On September 3rd, he sees Whiskey in the back corner of the Starbucks with the same complete stranger.

On September 5th, he sees that stranger with Tango at the murder Stop and Shop.

On September 7th, which is regrettably also the first day of classes, he sees all three of them together at the dining hall, but they break quickly so that Whiskey and Tango can come sit with the rest of the hockey team and the unnamed third party vanishes.

On September 9th, he’s pretty sure he sees Whiskey kissing the stranger, but he can’t be sure. He’s sure it was the stranger, but he’s not sure it was Whiskey.

On September 12th, Dex calls him out on his behaviour.

“Dude, what are you doing?” Dex asks, as Nursey jots something down in his notepad. “Are you stalking the Tadpoles?”

“Uh, no?” Nursey offers. Dex frowns at him, looking disapproving. “Look, they’ve got a secret friend they’re not telling us about, and you’re barely talking to me, so what the hell else am I supposed to do with my time?”

“What do you mean I’m barely talking to you?” Dex asks. “I talk to you all the time.”

“Yeah but,” Nursey says. He struggles to come up with an appropriate explanation. But it’s hard to put into words, because the feeling of unease and discomfort that he’s been sensing coming from Dex for the past few weeks is so vague and doesn’t make sense to people who haven’t had to spend their lives getting quick reads on other people’s emotional states.

“But?” Dex prompts.

Nursey’s phone buzzes and he doesn’t have to look to know it’s Assumpta. It reminds him of Colin Poindexter’s existence and he realises that maybe Dex would get the mood-reading thing.

“But things have been weird since you slept on me, and, like, you always seem super uncomfortable to be in the same room with me, which is hella awk since we live together,” Nursey says.

Dex barely reacts, but the muscles around his eyes do a quick dash through a few emotions before he settles on looking annoyed.

“I’m not uncomfortable being in the same room with you,” he says. “I just thought you were uncomfortable being in the same room with me. And I didn’t want you to think I was coming onto you or anything, because I wasn’t.”

“Yeah, I know,” Nursey says. He can’t help the tinge of bitterness in his voice.

Dex frowns. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“If you were coming onto me, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have given your sister my number,” Nursey can’t help but snap, and he stalks off in his pursuit of the Tadpoles.

Dex doesn’t speak to him for three days.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> But what exactly are the tadpoles up to? Who knows...
> 
> Come cry with me on [tumblr.](http://omgericzimmermann.tumblr.com)


	4. #1 on the Swallow's 50 Most

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to my beta, [catsilhouette](http://catsilhouette.tumblr.com), to those of you reading this, and to Ngozi for creating these characters.

Dex is too stubborn to talk to Nursey first. Nursey, of course, being Nursey, doesn’t seem to give a shit since he’s always so fucking chill and it’s going to drive Dex crazy.

“You could just talk to him,” Chowder suggests while they do their homework at Founders. He’s got his Sharks hoodie around backwards and is pulling handfuls of chips out of the hood. Dex leans forward to steal one.

“I didn’t do anything,” Dex says. He didn’t. He just caved when Assumpta asked for Nursey’s phone number, because what else was he supposed to do? _No, sorry, sis, I can’t give you his phone number because he’s mine and I don’t want you encroaching on my space since pretty much every guy I’ve liked since the sixth grade has been ass over teakettle in love with you._ No. He can’t do that. There’s many problems with that.

“Well then what did he do?” Chowder asks.

“He was pissed at me for giving my sister his phone number,” Dex says. He pinches the bridge of his nose. It’s a less complicated answer. The real answer is that he doesn’t actually quite know _why_ Nursey’s pissed at him. But things had been weird since August when Dex had accidentally slept on Nursey and he doesn’t know _why_. They’d spent all summer together without it ever being awkward.

“Is your sister hot?” Chowder asks.

Dex frowns at him across the table until Chowder realises what he’s said.

“Oh gosh sorry!” Chowder says. “I guess you wouldn’t know and don’t want to think about it, right?”

“Yeah,” Dex agrees. He doesn’t realise he’s still frowning at his homework until Chowder clears his throat.

“Why does it bother you?” Chowder asks.

“What?” Dex asks, looking up.

“If Nursey and your sister are texting, why does it bother you? I thought you guys were friends now? Like if your sister’s gonna date anyone wouldn’t you rather it be someone you liked?” Chowder asks, and Dex notices his textbook’s been open at the same page it was at when they first sat down here.

Dex doesn’t say that yes, in theory, he would prefer it if Assumpta dated people he likes, except that Assumpta’s only _ever_ dated people he likes – likes romantically. And he’d like it a whole lot more if the person Assumpta were theoretically going to date wasn’t Derek Nurse.

“It doesn’t,” Dex snaps, which isn’t fair to Chowder but he can’t stop himself.

Chowder stares at him for a second and then shakes his head.

“If I didn’t know you were straight I’d think you were jealous,” Chowder says, stuffing another handful of chips into his mouth.

Dex’s heart rate kicks into high gear. It’s Samwell, and it’s Chowder, and he’s not going to be judgy, and hell, he might not even be that surprised. But it still takes Dex one or two very deep breaths before he can say, “I’m not.”

“Yeah, I know you’re not jealous,” Chowder says.

“Straight,” Dex corrects. He realises he’s holding his breath while Chowder processes this. His eyes widen a little, but mostly his face stays the same.

“So you are jealous,” Chowder says, now looking curious. His head tilt reminds Dex of a puppy.

Dex exhales and almost laughs. It’s ridiculous. Chowder is exactly the third person he’s come out to, and the first one who he’s come out to for no reason other than they’re friends. Nursey he had to tell because he had to explain about Steve, and Steve had to know because otherwise explaining exactly what he was doing on his knees in the custodial closet would’ve been a weird moment.

“Maybe,” Dex admits.

That too feels like a weight off his chest. Chowder knows he’s gay, or at least not straight, and Chowder knows he has feelings he doesn’t really want to define for Nursey.

They’re leaving the library for the Haus when Dex realises he has to tell Chowder not to tell anyone.

“No one else really knows,” he says. “So if you could keep it on the down low…”

“Oh my gosh of course!” Chowder exclaims. “I would _never_ out anyone if they didn’t want to be. But like if you and Nursey start dating, don’t you kind of have to tell him that you like dudes?”

“He knows, and we’re not going to date,” Dex says. “He doesn’t like me.”

“But do you like him?” Chowder asks. Dex opens his mouth to – to agree? To protest? To shriek meaningless noises into the void? He doesn’t really know – say _something_ but he gets interrupted by the sight of two familiar guys coming out of the lax house. Dex grabs Chowder by the shoulder and pulls him into the hedge while they peer through the branches at Tango and Whiskey as they leave the lax house. They bump shoulders a couple times, their hands stuffed in the pockets of their SMH sweatshirts, and cross the street to the Haus. They loiter on the lawn for a moment, clearly talking about something, then Whiskey kisses Tango in a languid, casual way that says this is definitely not the first time and will not under any circumstances be the last, and strolls off down the street back towards the dorms. Tango stands in the yard for another moment looking happy before ducking into the Haus.

Dex and Chowder exchange looks. This will need to be investigated.

* * *

Whiskey and Tango look sufficiently concerned and confused when the black bags are pulled off their heads and it’s revealed that they’re in the locker room under harsh, single beam lighting with Bitty, Dex, Nursey, and Chowder staring at them. They hadn’t gone the full haze-a-palooza route and stripped them to their underwear or tied their hands with hockey tape, but only because Bitty wouldn’t let them. Dex and Nursey had been totally for it.

Whiskey and Tango stare at them with fear in their eyes.

“Whiskey, Tango,” Bitty says. “You both stand accused of being in the LAX bros house without there being planned sabotage or pranks. How do you plead?”

“Um,” Tango says. “How did you guys know about that?”

“Guilty,” Whiskey says. He says something in Spanish to Tango that Dex’s one year of high school Spanish did not equip him to understand. Tango says something back and Whiskey nods. “Look, guys, Haus bylaw number thirteen clearly states that we are to ‘fuck the lax team.’ So we did.”

There’s silence in the locker room. Dex finds himself glancing at Nursey for confirmation that he actually did hear what Whiskey just said correctly. Nursey is looking back, similarly shocked. The second they make eye contact, they look away again. Dex knows he’s blushing, but can’t bring himself to see if Nursey is as well.

“Like…all of them?” Bitty asks, his hand over his heart like he’s possibly going to faint.

“We followed the letter of the law rather than the spirit in which it was intended,” Whiskey says, which really does not answer Bitty’s question.

Dex tries to mask his pride at Whiskey’s argument. He knows Shitty would be completely conflicted, torn between irrational ire that Whiskey and Tango had literally fucked a lax bro – at least one – and overwhelmed by the clarity and concise nature of Whiskey’s argument.

“What’s the guy’s name even?” Nursey asks. “If there is just one.”

He’s got his arms folded and he’s glowering at them. Dex knows him well enough to know he doesn’t really mean it.

“Mulgrew,” Tango says.

“Fox,” Whiskey says.

“Bro,” Nursey says, clapping Dex on the arm in excitement. “Fox Mulgrew? You guys should be Scully and Mulder.”

Dex frowns at him. Sure, he knows that Mulder’s name was Fox Mulder, which does sound an awful lot like Fox Mulgrew, and yes, Tango asks enough questions to be a passable substitute for Dana Scully, but there’s a much more obvious option.

“Nursey,” he says, perfectly aware that this is the first time he’s directly addressed him in days. “Nurse. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. They’re WTF.”

Nurse’s face lights up and he pulls out his phone. Dex has a sneaking suspicion that Nursey is changing their contact information. He’s pretty sure that just like with Ransom and Holster, Nursey doesn’t actually know which number goes to which tadpole, but also like Ransom and Holster, calling one is usually a surefire way to get a hold of both of them. Because apparently, they’re dating.

“You guys are both dating this Foxtrot?” Bitty asks.

Whiskey and Tango nod.

“Okay,” Bitty says. “Okay. That’s fine. He’s not allowed in the Haus unless he comes to a hockey practice and wears skates.”

Whiskey and Tango wince and the Frogs burst out laughing.

When they get back to the Haus, Dex drags Nursey and Chowder down to the basement with an oversized sharpie and adds the bylaw to the wall.

They take a picture and send it to Shitty.

== SMH Group Text ==

**Me:** [attached picture of gritty basement wall covered in bad handwriting the clearest of which says 27: a LAX bro may only enter the Haus after attending hockey practice and wearing skates]

**Shitty:** WHAT BLASPHEMY IS THIS LAX BROS ARE NEVER ALLOWED IN THE HAUS

**Adam:** Lax bros are to be defenestrated.

**Justin:** at all times. Like what the fuck bros. what are you people up to over there on the east coast?

**Eric:** it turns out the tadpoles are kind of…well…

**Eric:** they’re DATING a lax bro

**Eric:** I don’t know what sins I committed as a captain to deserve this.

**Fred Astaire:** it wasn’t you, Bits. We know you did nothing to bring this suffering upon us.

**Chris:** yeah. They looked pretty scared when we pulled the black bags off their heads.

**Fred Astaire:** do you think they’d flip out if we black bagged Foxtrot?

**Me:** yeah probably. I think they’d be pretty pissed if we kidnapped their boyfriend.

**Jack:** Foxtrot?

**Chris:** their boyfriend’s name is Fox. Now they’re WTF thanks to Dex :D

**Larissa:** Bits, you’re going to have to explain this all at some point. Clearly, no matter what Nursey says, you did /something/ to make them think this was okay.

**Me:** no, Lardo, he torched the couch on the front lawn. All of the lax bros are scared shitless of him

**Shitty:** I’m so fucking proud Bits

**Fred Astaire:** well, if they’re as scared of Bitty as Dex says, then…maybe Foxtrot likes them enough to get over his fear? Actually it’s kinda sweet in a Romeo and Juliet sort of way.

**Larissa:** Hey Dex if you could smother him in his sleep to keep him from every saying shit like that again, that’d be ‘swawesome.

==

Whiskey and Tango do bring Foxtrot with them to practice a few weeks later. Dex imagines it’s taken them that long to convince him. Foxtrot cannot skate to save his life, but he withstands the chirping sent his way by the rest of the team fairly well.

“Is it just me or does he look like Tyler Posey?” Dex asks later in the locker room before he realises what he’s saying. He freezes with his laces half undone, unwilling to believe he’s made such a terrible tactical error.

“Who’s Tyler Posey?” Chowder asks.

“Uh,” Dex says. “Just some actor.”

He tries desperately to think of something he’s been in aside from _Teen Wolf_ but the only thing that comes to mind is when he played J-Lo’s son in _Maid in Manhattan_ and that’s probably even more embarrassing.

“He’s in some show my sister watches,” Dex says.

He tries to ignore Nursey pulling out his phone and texting someone – presumably Assumpta – and finishes changing. Nursey thankfully doesn’t call him on it until they’re back in their room at the Haus, at which point Nursey tosses Dex his phone.

“Passcode is 0214,” Nursey says.

Dex unlocks it, glad they’re talking again. “You really made your passcode your own birthday?”

“It’s easy to remember,” Nursey says with a shrug while he opens his laptop and starts in on his homework.

Dex reads his latest conversation with Assumpta.

**==** Assumpta Poindexter==

**Me:** hey, who’s Tyler Posey?

**Assumpta:** he’s the main character in Teen Wolf. I don’t know. Will used to watch it.

==

Dex locks the phone and throws it back at Nursey. It hits him in the chest and Nursey bursts out laughing.

“You watch _Teen Wolf_ ,” Nursey accuses.

“You’re taking that to the grave,” Dex replies, glowering at him.

Nursey laughs again and turns to type something into his computer. “You’re right though. Foxtrot totally looks like Tyler Posey.”

* * *

It’s a month later that Winter Screw starts looming over their heads. Dex is dreading it, but he starts to actively regret all his life choices when Assumpta starts threatening (she doesn’t think it’s threatening. Dex thinks it’s a threat, for the record.) to come down for that weekend. It’s convenient she says, since she can see him and then they’ll get to drive home together for Christmas.

“Which would be fine, except that we’re the only two people she knows at Samwell, so, like, I’m gonna be stuck taking your sister to Winter Screw,” Nursey grumbles. “And you’re probably not even going to go.”

“I’m going,” Dex says, racking the bar and switching places with Nursey. The weight room is probably the best place to have this conversation because Nursey can blame his blush on the exertion.

“Really?” Nursey asks as Dex starts doing his reps.

“Yeah,” Dex says. He takes a deep breath. “I think I’m even going to bring a date.”

“Even when Assumpta’s there?” Nursey asks, looking down at him with an expression Dex can’t read.

Dex nods. The only problem is, now he has to find a date.

He turns to Bitty.

“But yeah, so because Nursey is taking my sister, and so I have to find a date now,” Dex says from his spot at the kitchen table with most of a bite of pie in his mouth. “Because I’m not being the third wheel while my best friend goes out with my sister.”

Bitty stares at him. “And you’re – you’re looking for a _guy_ ,” he says.

“Well, I’m kind of gay so…” Dex says. He flushes red as he says it. Because it’s getting easier to tell people but it’s still not easy. Assumpta is going to be the first real hurdle. And he’s not actually going to tell her, just show up at Winter Screw with a hopefully very hot date. And if it happens to make Nursey jealous then –

No, that’s absolutely not what Dex is doing. He’s not trying to make Nursey jealous, he’s not, he’s not, he’s not.

“Oh!” Bitty says. “I didn’t know. Sorry. But yeah, we can find you a super hot guy to take to Winter Screw.”

His statement is punctuated by the front door shutting and Whiskey, Tango, and Foxtrot peering around the edge of the kitchen door.

“Actually, we kinda know a guy,” Foxtrot says tentatively.

The guy they know is named Paolo, Dex discovers. Paolo is on the soccer team, and is part of the Spanish Club which is how he knows WTF in the first place. He’s also upsettingly pretty to look at and is the second best looking guy Dex has ever seen, the first being Nursey. He also seems interested in Dex, which makes Dex very suspicious but doesn’t ask why since there’s nothing less cool than asking a guy why he likes you.

They grab coffee before Winter Screw and Dex spends the whole time answering Paolo’s questions about Maine and trying to ignore his constantly buzzing phone. He also tries to ignore the fact Paolo’s got the same dark skin as Nursey and the same green eyes and it’s kind of a problem.

Paolo kisses him goodbye after coffee and it fills Dex’s stomach with guilt.

The guilt disappears as soon as he gets back to the Haus because Assumpta is sitting on New Couch with her ankles tossed casually over Nursey’s thigh and for just a second Dex sees red. He manages to tamp it down and look normal when she looks up at him and waves.

“Hey Will!” she says, grinning at him. “So apparently you’re going to the dance too?”

“Yeah,” Dex says. He’s trying not to think about the fact they look good together.

“Are you bringing a date, Billy?” Assumpta asks, her eyes lighting up.

“Billy?” Nursey repeats, giving Dex a look that promises later chirping.

“I am,” Dex agrees. As soon as he says it, his heart starts racing. “I have to go do homework.”

“Wait!” Assumpta calls after him. “What’s her name?”

Dex takes a deep breath and he sees Nursey’s shoulders stiffen.

“Paolo,” Dex says.

Assumpta frowns. “Did you say Paula? Like Paula Deen?”

“No, Paol _o_ , like Paolo Hernandez, the starting centre forward on the Samwell Men’s Soccer Team,” Dex replies.

“What?” Assumpta asks. Dex can’t read her expression. She’s clearly shocked, but he can’t see anything deeper than that. He can’t see if she’s shocked and processing it and going to be fine with it, or if she’s shocked and appalled.

“I have to go study,” Dex says, turning and running out of the room. He’s hiding under his blankets when Nursey joins him twenty minutes later. He doesn’t say anything when Nursey climbs up the ladder to Dex’s bunk and crawls under the covers as well. It is very much not a wide bed, but as long as they both lie on their sides, they don’t really have to touch. Nursey pulls the covers up over his head as well and stares at Dex in the gloom.

“She cried,” he says before Dex can ask.

“Swawesome,” Dex says. He tries not to psychoanalyse why he felt the need to run away from Assumpta after telling her he likes boys. He doesn’t really think she’s going to judge him. He’s pretty sure she’s got gay friends at Emerson, but…maybe it’s because as the youngest, they’ve always sort of been in competition with each other. And Assumpta’s always won. Colin expects him to be a disappointment, and yeah, Dex knows that Colin’s going to hate him if he ever comes out to him, but with Assumpta there was the chance it might not be that way.

“About Colin,” Nursey says.

“What?” Dex asks.

“She cried about Colin being such a homophobic fuck bag and how awful it must have been to grow up gay with that as your role model,” Nursey says. “Turns out your sister’s actually a decent person.”

Dex is compelled to send a text message to Assumpta and thank her, but he left his phone on his desk.

“Well that’s why you’re dating her isn’t it?” Dex asks.

“I’m not dating your sister,” Nursey says. There’s a pause. “You’re really going to the Screw with Paolo Hernandez? The guy who was number one in the Swallow’s fifty last year?”

Dex nods. He feels impossibly young right now, hiding under blankets and talking about cute boys with his best friend.

“He’s really pretty,” Nursey says. Dex nods again. “Okay, I’m suffocating.”

Nursey throws back the blanket and promptly falls off Dex’s bunk. He groans when he hits the floor and Dex grimaces when he looks over the side at him.

“Are you okay?” Dex asks.

“I’m awesome,” Nursey says, sprawled out on the floor. “I just remembered that there’s a reason you got the top bunk.”

“Yeah, because you said something about me always being on top?” Dex replies. And Derek Nurse actually blushes. Dex is too shocked to know what to say for a second but he clears his throat. “There was a lot of tequila involved.”

“Yeah,” Nursey agrees. “Yeah there was.”

* * *

Assumpta’s dress is way too short. That’s Dex’s first thought when they show up at the Screw. Her dress is way too short, way too tight, and way too illuminating of the fact she’s got a track and field scholarship to Emerson. Even Nursey, who claims not to like her, is staring.

“That’s your sister?” Paolo asks in a low voice while everyone else stares at her.

“Yeah,” Dex says, fighting the urge to drink deeply. Bitty wordlessly hands him a flask.

“Eh, you’re prettier,” Paolo says, accepting Bitty’s flask.

Dex stares at him, blinking in shock. When Paolo smiles at him, Dex feels himself smile back.

“Come dance with me Derek,” Assumpta says, grabbing Nursey by the hand and dragging him out to the dance floor. Nursey shoots Dex a look that could possibly be construed as a “help me” but Dex doesn’t know what to do about that. WTF follow soon after, and Farmer drags Chowder with her out to the floor, leaving Dex and Paolo with Bitty.

“You boys should go dance,” Bitty encourages, leaning against a wall with his flask. Dex suspects Shitty is responsible for its existence. “Have fun.”

“You know, pretty much half my team has a crush on you,” Paolo says, taking Dex’s hand and preparing to pull him onto the dance floor. “If you wanted to dance with someone.”

Bitty blushes bright red. “Well aren’t you just the sweetest,” Bitty says. “Be nice to him Dex.”

“I’m always nice!” Dex protests while Paolo laughs and pulls him out to the dance floor.

Dex isn’t usually one for dancing. He’s usually one for sitting on the side of the dance floor with a flask like Bitty.

Not that what he’s doing with Paolo could really be called dancing, per se. Not with the way Paolo’s hands are getting friendly with his ass, and the way they’re so close together Dex can actually feel him breathing.

The problem is, Dex can see Nursey and Assumpta dancing. Assumpta’s being just as handsy with Nursey as Paolo is with him, and it feels like someone just jammed the heel of one of Assumpta’s shoes into his stomach. To his chagrin, Paolo follows his gaze.

“You like him?” Paolo guesses.

“Is it that obvious?” Dex asks.

Paolo shrugs. “I’m sorry he’s dating your sister.”

“He says he’s not,” Dex replies. They both watch Nursey and Assumpta dance together for a second before turning away. Maybe Nursey’s telling the truth and they’re not dating, but they’re definitely something. Dex doesn’t want to fill in that blank, either with his imagination or with actual knowledge.

“I could distract you, if you want,” Paolo says. He shrugs again. “I mean, it is just Winter Screw.”

Dex hears himself agree, and Paolo’s pulling his head down so he can kiss him. Dex discovers he really likes kissing Paolo. And it’s not like he’s the only person Dex has kissed, but it’s definitely better than most of his experiences have been. The first couple didn’t really count since they were girls and Dex figured out pretty damn quick he wasn’t even remotely bi, and then there was Steve and that opens up a whole different can of worms, and then there were the two other guys he’d kissed since coming to Samwell, but those had been secrets, full of tension and secrecy and sure, maybe he’s not going to date Paolo, but god it’s nice kissing someone he likes without having to hide it.

“Do you want to go back to my place?” Paolo asks, kissing Dex’s neck.

“Well we definitely can’t go back to mine,” Dex says. Paolo frowns. “I’ve got a roommate and a bunk bed.”

“Yeah, no,” Paolo agrees. He kisses him again.

Dex starts to pull him out of the party but realises he should probably tell someone where he’s going. Nursey, of course, is the first person he sees.

“Hey, room’s all yours,” he says, clapping him on the shoulder with a lot of bravado he doesn’t feel. “See you tomorrow.”

Nursey stares at him with an unreadable expression on his face.

“O-okay,” he says finally. Assumpta waves them goodbye and Dex lets Paolo pull him out of the party.

“He’s your roommate?” Paolo asks, looking so horribly sympathetic that Dex feels bad.

“I don’t really want to think about it right now,” Dex replies. He surprises himself by running a hand through Paolo’s hair and kissing him with as much intensity as he can muster.

“Yeah, I think I can help with that,” Paolo says, a little breathless. Dex smiles.

* * *

When he wakes up, Dex is able to think for just one second that the guy lying next to him with curly dark hair and tan skin is Nursey. But there are no tattoos, there are no illegible scribbled poems on his right forearm – if for no other reason than Paolo is right handed – and Paolo is not a human furnace. The guilt kicks in right about then. He knows Paolo said that he was good with being a distraction, he knows that Paolo’s aware his heart is very much not in it, no matter how attractive Dex finds him – and he knows how attractive Dex finds him, because he’s pretty sure he kept repeating it last night – but he still feels awful about it. He has to get out of there.

As gently as he can, Dex extracts his arm from under Paolo and tries to sneak off after he’s collected his clothes from the floor. Paolo’s bedroom door creaks, Dex discovers.

“Hey Dex?” Paolo calls quietly from the bed.

“Yeah?” Dex asks.

“My captain’s straight,” Paolo says.

“O…kay?” Dex replies. He tries to remember if he knows anything about the captain of the soccer team but comes up blank.

Paolo rolls over so he’s taking up most of the bed and folds his hands behind his head.

“He’s just ridiculously tall, and has these crazy freckles, and the best red hair,” Paolo says, and Dex understands. “I’m just saying. You’re my unattainable type too.”

Something akin to relief floods Dex’s system. Sure they were both using each other, but they were both aware, and so maybe that makes it okay.

Dex crosses the room and kisses him gently. “I’m sorry,” he says.

“Good luck,” Paolo replies, and Dex leaves , the swirl of emotions from last night settling down.

He’s not the only person doing a walk of shame down Elm Street that morning. None of them make eye contact, especially since most are hungover and trying to avoid looking at anything what with the sunlit glare shining off the snow. When Dex gets to the Haus, he finds Bitty in the kitchen making waffles.

“Morning, sunshine,” Bitty says with an impressively bright grin.

“Morning,” Dex says. He’s not hungover, just guilty. “You look…happy.”

“Oh, yeah, the Zimmermanns invited me up to Montreal for Christmas and New Year’s,” Bitty says. He pulls a waffle out of the waffle iron and hands it to Dex.

“That’s…friendly of them,” Dex says, because no one goes and spends Christmas with their friend’s family unless their own is shitty – which he knows Bitty’s is not – or they’re like Ransom and Holster, and –

And he really needs to stop using Ransom and Holster as a measurement for acceptable friendship norms because they recently drunk texted the group chat to tell them how awesome all the sex they’re having is. And had added that the sex was even more awesome than it had been when they were just platonically hooking up (“Are you fucking kidding me?” Shitty had replied).

“Yeah, well,” Bitty says, his cheeks turning pink. “Uh, since you were trusting enough to tell me you were gay before most people, they invited me because Jack and I are together.”

For just a second, Dex considers pointing out that he was already pretty sure that was the case, but he remembers that he would’ve been really pissed off if someone, upon his coming out, had said “yeah I know.” So he doesn’t.

“Seriously?” he asks, injecting as much cheer into his voice as he can. “That’s so ‘swawesome! Dude, Chowder’s going to flip.”

The thing is, he genuinely means it. It is ‘swawesome. If anyone he knows deserves an actual ray of sunshine in their life, it’s Jack Zimmermann, and if anyone he knows deserves an absurdly well-built professional hockey player, it’s Eric Bittle.

“Yeah, I know,” Bitty says, unable to keep the smile off his face.

“So last year during the kegster when you guys disappeared,” Dex prompts.

“That’s none of your business, Poindexter,” Bitty says, affecting a holier-than-thou expression that makes Dex laugh. “But we’re gonna tell the rest of the team sometime this week, so for now keep it quiet, alright?”

“My lips are sealed,” Dex says, stuffing most of the waffle in his mouth and patting Bitty on the shoulder. He needs to take a shower before he’s stuck in a car with Assumpta for five hours.

When he gets to the second floor, the bathroom door bursts open with a cloud of steam and Assumpta steps out, her hair wet and her makeup smudged because she couldn’t be bothered to clean it off fully. Any good feelings Dex had about Bitty and Jack coming out to the team as a couple drop out the bottom of his stomach.

“Oh you’re back!” she says. She takes a step closer to him. “And you _reek_ of cologne.”

“It’s not mine,” Dex says, trying to get past her into the bathroom.

“I know,” Assumpta says. “And we’re going to talk about that on the drive.”

“Great,” Dex says in a tone that clearly communicates he’d rather take a nail gun to the head. He shuts the bathroom door and steps into the shower, trying very hard not to think about where Assumpta spent the night.

After his shower, he runs to the attic to grab his things and say goodbye to Nursey. But Nursey has his back to the room and is wrapped up in what looks like Dex’s Grumpy Cat blanket.

“Hey, we’re heading out,” Dex says.

“Oh you’re back,” Nursey says without turning to look at him. He sounds stuffy, like he’s got a cold. “Have a good night?”

Dex frowns at him. “It was fine. How was yours?”

“Fine,” Nursey says, sniffing again. “I’ll see you next year.”

Dex picks up his duffle bag but keeps frowning at Nursey’s back. That’s definitely his blanket.

“Maybe you could come up for New Year’s,” Dex suggests. Even if that would mean putting Nursey and Assumpta in the same room again, Dex likes that idea better than not seeing Nursey for three weeks.

“I don’t have a driver’s licence, remember,” Nursey says. “Have a good drive.”

He sniffs again and actually, that doesn’t sound like a cold.

“Are you okay?” Dex asks.

“I’m fine,” Nursey says.

“Nursey,” Dex says.

“Just fucking go, okay?” Nursey snaps.

Dex feels all of the cogs in his head stop spinning. Nursey hasn’t yelled at him like that since they were frogs.

“Dere--”

“Let’s go Will! We’re gonna miss dinner!” Assumpta calls from the bottom of the attic stairs.

Dex doesn’t know what to do about Nursey, so he throws one last reproachful look at his back and leaves.

The drive to Maine is just as uncomfortable as he imagined it was going to be. Assumpta wants to know all the details, when he figured out he was gay, if he’s dated anyone before the very hot soccer player the night before, if he’s going to tell the rest of the family any time soon.

“Do you really see a situation where I’d _ever_ tell Colin?” Dex asks.

Assumpta considers it. “Like, a few years after your wedding?”

Dex snorts. “From across the country using a semaphore flag, sure.”

“God that must’ve been the worst growing up,” she says. “You should’ve told me earlier.”

“It’s not like any of us ever contradicts Colin,” Dex points out. “He’d flip if he knew you were seeing a Middle Eastern guy.”

In some improbable, impossible, wonderful future where Dex hadn’t spent his morning getting shouted at by Nursey, he’d have to contend with Colin eventually finding out he was both gay and dating a Middle Eastern guy, but that future seems very unlikely.

“Who? Derek?” Assumpta asks. “Dude, I tried but he wouldn’t even kiss me.”

“Really?” Dex asks. He hates how hopeful he sounds.

Assumpta looks him over and then smacks him in the arm.

“Will! If you like him why the hell did you give me his phone number?” she demands.

“Because it’s not like he likes me!” Dex replies. “And he’s actually really pissed at me right now and I don’t know why, so it really doesn’t matter.”

He interrupts any response she might have by turning up the music, because usually Assumpta will shut up if Breaking Benjamin is playing. He’s not so lucky.

“Well what if he does?” Assumpta asks. Dex gives her a look. “Just go with it for a second. Say he does like you. If we’re operating under those parameters, then why would he be mad at you?”

“I have no idea,” Dex says.

“Will. You spent last night at someone else’s house after making out with a smoking hot guy right in front of him,” Assumpta points out. “Who, actually come to think of it, looks a lot like him? Which, I just, _bro_.”

“You think he’s mad at me because he’s jealous?” Dex asks.

“Aww, so you’re not as stupid as you look,” Assumpta replies, ruffling his hair.

“But that’s only true in the universe where we pretend he does like me,” Dex says. “And since that’s not the universe we’re living in, it’s much more likely he’s just kind of freaked out that I slept with a guy who looks like him because he figured out I like him and now he has to share a room with me for the rest of the year unless he can get Chowder or Tango to trade with him.”

“Oof,” Assumpta says, looking distressed on his behalf. “God I hope I’m right.”

“Yeah, me too,” Dex agrees.

* * *

They’re the last ones back for Christmas, the rest of the family already sitting in the living room sipping their eggnog. They’re greeted warmly with tight hugs and are summarily bundled into the giant cable knit fisherman’s sweaters that are ubiquitous amongst the family, and handed glasses of eggnog themselves.

“Because Will’s finally twenty-one and can drink with us!” Jamie says, ruffling his hair.

Dex chokes on his own spit trying not to laugh and manages not to spew eggnog over Siobhan’s head.

“What happened to your friend?” Colin asks. Dex flinches. Colin’s always grumpy around Christmas since his custody agreement says his ex-wife gets the kids.

“He’s back home,” Dex says.

“Oh, with his family?” Granny asks, handing around a plate of gingerbread cookies.

“Uh, no actually, they’re in the Caribbean,” Dex says. He lets himself think about Nursey alone in his parents’ house in Manhattan. In the house that echoes.

“He’s there alone?” Granny demands, outraged. “William Josiah Poindexter why didn’t you invite that boy to Christmas?”

“He doesn’t really celebrate Christmas,” Assumpta pipes up, saving Will from having to explain himself. Well, he’d have to lie to explain himself, because telling Colin would be a disaster, but he can’t imagine Granny knowing he was gay would be a good thing. “Plus, like, he lives in _Manhattan_ so it’s not like he’s hurting for things to do.”

Dex knows what he’s doing though. Nursey’s going to spend the entire break drinking his dad’s liquor cabinet dry and reading the Romantics and Khalil Gibran, “Because he’s my countryman, Dex.”

“Well at least I get my bed,” Iain says.

It’s different sleeping in his childhood bedroom with Iain on the bunk below him. Dex doesn’t like it. He likes sharing a room with Nursey, and this is the first time they’ve been in different states since last August.

His phone lights up around midnight. It’s the group text.

== SMH Group Text==

**Eric:** okay y’all, so we’ve got something to tell you. For obvious reasons, we’ve been keeping it to ourselves since there’s the whole media component and Jack’s career to consider, but it’s time to tell you all that Jack and I have been together since June of 2015.

**Me:** congratulations you guys

**Shitty:** YOU GLORIOUS BASTARDS I’M SO PROUD OF YOU

**Larissa:** you’ve done well Zimmermann. Bitty, I suppose he’s somewhat worthy of you.

**Fred Astaire:** you’ve got to do us all a solid Bits – you’ve got to touch the butt.

**Fred Astaire:** [attached picture of Nemo touching the bottom of a boat]

**Adam:** you guys. You Guys. YOU GUYS

**Justin:** /this/ is why you wouldn’t let us set you up with a Screw date our senior year? BRO

**Chris:** THIS IS SO SWAWESOME MY DADS ARE TOGETHER IRL

**Jack:** thanks you guys. As opposed to what, Chowder?

**Adam:** as opposed to all of our best dreams bro

**Fred Astaire:** y’all are so damn adorable, eh?

**Me:** that’s two shots.

**Fred Astaire:** [attached picture of two full shot glasses]

**Fred Astaire:** a step ahead of you, Ginger.

==

Dex tries not to worry about Nursey but it’s about as successful as trying to dig a grave in frozen ground. He makes it through midnight mass on Christmas Eve and then opening stockings with his siblings and Granny, and then she drags him into the kitchen ostensibly to help her bake cookies.

“I like Derek,” she says, holding out her hand for the butter. Dex hands it over. “He should come up.”

“He doesn’t have a driver’s license,” Dex replies.

Granny purses her lips. “I know his family has money, but I don’t like to think about him sitting alone at home in New York City on Christmas.”

“Me neither,” Dex says.

“I hear New York on New Year’s Eve is really something,” Granny says. Dex stares at her. She can’t be suggesting what he thinks she is. “Don’t look at me like that. You should go. You’re his best friend, aren’t you?”

“I think so,” Dex says, even though considering the fact Nursey wouldn’t even look at him before he left for Christmas, he might not be anymore.

“Then go,” Granny says. “We’ll always be here.”

She pats him on the cheek, hands him a box of cookies and an extra sweater, and kicks him out into the snow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come cry with me on [tumblr.](http://omgericzimmermann.tumblr.com)


	5. Took Our Broken Hearts, Put Them in a Drawer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the title of this chapter is from the Taylor Swift song "Welcome to New York." 
> 
> Yes, there are a lot of references to _The Martian_ because I just wrote an AU. 
> 
> Also, a warning for my attempts to mimic Twitter and an ESPN commentator being a bag of dismembered genitalia (and for the inclusion of Bring Me the Horizon lyrics which are quite concerning). 
> 
> Major shoutout to my beta [Catsilhouette](http://catsilhouette.tumblr.com) and thank you all so so much for your kind comments.

On the one hand Nursey knows he’s being ridiculous. He knows Dex doesn’t like him, Dex has made that pretty fucking clear, but on the other hand -

On the other hand he’s been Facebook stalking Paolo Hernandez since he got back to Manhattan, and _holy shit_. His profile pic, obviously, is a shirtless pic at some waterfall with natural rock formations all around, sunglasses, and a big smile while he’s dripping wet because what the fuck else is it going to be. His stated hobbies are soccer – he’s a Barcelona fan – mountain climbing, and snowboarding. He grew up in Colorado even if he’s from Barcelona originally and Nursey would absolutely hate him if he also didn’t want to, like, suck tequila out of his navel.

He takes to trying to write to get over it. It works about as well as he expects, and he spends the first few days of the break lying on the floor of his childhood bedroom staring at the ceiling. He knows that no one’s been in here since last August, because there’s a thin layer of dust over everything – his books, his furniture, his windowsill, the impossibly alive cactus. He had to spend the first day he was back airing it out, which meant opening the window to the frigid air of December in the Upper West Side, and now he gets to lie on his back on the floor staring at the ceiling. As a kid, he’d put up constellations with the help of a nanny – he can no longer remember which one – and a few NASA posters, a few blown up pictures from the Hubble, and of course some Star Wars posters. His parents wouldn’t let him put them on the walls, so he stuck them on the ceiling instead. He’d taken most of them with him to Andover, and hadn’t got around to putting them up in the attic. He vaguely remembers telling Dex freshman year that the Star Wars posters in his room belonged to his roommate.

The only one left on the ceiling is the cut out he’d got of Jar-Jar Binks, onto which he’d stuck googly eyes and red felt devil’s horns.

He spends two days feeling sorry for himself because Dex is off somewhere fucking Paolo Hernandez (he knows he’s in Maine with the rest of the Poindexters but he also knows that the last thing Dex did this semester was go home with Paolo Hernandez) and doesn’t like him, and then he starts drinking. He genuinely can’t remember if he told his parents he was coming home for Christmas, but then again, he can’t remember the last time he actually spoke to them.

He’s pretty sure it’s Christmas Day and he’s sitting in an ancient faded black t-shirt with a galaxy on it that he used to wear back in high school re-watching _The Martian_ for the seventeenth time when there’s a knock on the door. But he’s been drunk for nearly three days so he’s not entirely sure.

When it happens again, he stumbles to his feet and shuffles to the door, only somewhat aware of the fact he’s in just the t-shirt and boxers, covered in dorito dust, and probably smells like he’s been sleeping in a distillery (but it’s his dad’s scotch, so at least it’s an expensive, old-school distillery). He opens the door and peers blearily at the front steps, unsure of what he’s actually seeing. Because it _looks_ kind of like Dex is standing on his stoop with his bag over his shoulder and a knit hat pulled firmly down over his ears. He also seems to be wearing a ridiculous cable knit sweater and holding a bag of cookies.

“I swear to god I’m not high,” Nursey says, because a hallucination is the only explanation he can come up with.

“Yeah, maybe not, but I’m pretty sure your breath would kill a small child,” Dex replies, pushing past him into the house and shutting the door. He brushes the snow off his hat and Nursey realises he didn’t even know it was snowing. “When was the last time you showered?”

Nursey makes some vague noncommittal noise and doesn’t argue as Dex shuffles him off to the bathroom. He’s not sure how Dex finds it, since there are four floors in their house, but he goes with it.

“Please don’t drown,” Dex requests. “I just drove a really long way and I don’t want to try to explain what happened to the county coroner.”

“Right,” Nursey agrees, because he can’t entirely believe Dex is there. Dex leaves him in the bathroom and he steps into the shower, trying not to think about the time he accidentally broke the Haus shower and Dex had to fix it.

For what it’s worth, he doesn’t break his own shower and wraps a towel around his hips, feeling just a little more sober as he heads for his room for clean clothes. He finds Dex sitting downstairs with a couple of mugs of hot chocolate and the bag of cookies.

“You’re actually here,” Nursey says.

“Yeah,” Dex says. “Granny kicked me out.”

Nursey’s jaw drops. Granny Poindexter had seemed like the epitome of chill that summer, he can’t fathom why she would’ve kicked Dex out.

“Did Assumpta tell her about Paolo or that you’re gay or--”

“Oh, God! No!” Dex exclaims, his eyes going wide. “No, not that kind of kicked me out. No, Jesus.”

Nursey feels himself relax a fraction and drops onto the couch next to Dex. He tries not to remember the fact he spent the last day before the holidays crying in bed whilst wrapped in the Grumpy Cat blanket he’d got Dex.

“No, she found out you were spending the holidays alone and since there wasn’t an easy way to get you up to Maine, she tossed me out in your direction,” Dex explains, flushing around the ears. He hasn’t taken off his hat or sweater, Nursey realises. “She sent this.”

He hands him a dark green cable knit sweater remarkably like the one Dex is wearing. It smells like salt and fresh hay and a little like Granny Poindexter’s cooking. It’s lumpy and nothing like anything Nursey ever wears, but it’s so damn soft and Nursey pulls it on immediately. It feels like a warm hug.

“You know, this isn’t really my style,” he says, taking one of the mugs of hot chocolate.

“You don’t have to wear it,” Dex replies.

“No, I’m keeping it forever, back off,” Nursey says, pulling his sweater closer.

Dex rolls his eyes and looks over at the TV.

“Were you watching T _he Martian_?” he asks.

“Yeah,” Nursey says.

“Oh. Is it any good?” Dex asks.

“Have you not seen it?” Nursey asks. When Dex says no, Nursey rewinds it and they start over. They both complain about the criminal lack of screen time Sebastian Stan has, and as they get further along in the movie, Nursey starts explaining where it differs from the book because he can’t help himself. He’s distantly aware that Dex is staring at him and finally as the credits roll, he asks.

“What?”

“You really like this movie don’t you,” Dex asks.

“Yeah,” Nursey says. He sighs and wraps his sweater tighter around himself. “Why are you here, Dex?”

“I told you, Granny--”

“Yeah, but you’re mad at me,” Nursey says.

“ _You’re_ mad at _me_ ,” Dex corrects. “You’re the one who told me to ‘just fucking go’.”

“I’m not mad at you,” Nursey says. Maybe slightly heartbroken, but Dex doesn’t need to know that. “I was super hungover.”

He doesn’t make eye contact. He doesn’t really care if Dex knows if he’s lying, but he needs Dex to let him have it.

“I--” Dex inhales and lets it out slowly. “Fine. You were super hungover.”

“Yeah,” Nursey says.

They sit in silence on the couch for a second.

“Are you here until school starts?” Nursey asks.

“If that’s okay,” Dex replies.

Nursey smiles. “You’ll have to put up with me dragging you to the Rose Centre. Think you can handle that?”

“Is it close? Because I never want to drive in New York again,” Dex says.

Nursey stares at him. _Is it close_. The Natural History Museum is three blocks from his house and Nursey had spent all of elementary and middle school crossing those blocks. He’s pretty sure he spent more time in the museum than he did at home growing up. His proudest possession is the picture from the time he met Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Dex asks, shifting uncomfortably.

“Dex, have you ever been to Manhattan before?” Nursey asks.

“Uh, no?” Dex says.

Nursey lets this information sink in. He imagines he looks about as horrified as Dex had that summer when he’d learned Nursey had never been camping.

“Okay,” Nursey says. “Just this once, I will condescend to play tourist so that you can see New York. If any other New Yorker asks, I am from Massachusetts.”

“Why?” Dex replies, looking concerned.

“You’ll understand,” Nursey says.

He’s not sure Dex does, but it’s worth it as they visit the Chrysler Building – which Nursey likes a whole hell of a lot more than the Empire State Building since it’s prettier – and the look on Dex’s face when they go up to the observation deck in the Empire State Building is adorable. Of course, Dex’s face is the only thing Nursey can look at while they’re up there, because if he gets more than five feet from the glass, his knees will give out and he’ll have to crawl to the elevator and lie in the corner in the fetal position until they’re at ground level again, but that doesn’t really matter. They take the ferry out to Liberty Island and when a nice old woman out there with her husband asks them if they want her to take their picture together, they agree.

They take a walking tour of Chelsea and the Meat Packing District and walk the length of the High Line before returning uptown to Central Park because Dex wants to see everything.

“They’ve filmed every movie here,” he says as they pass the fountain. Nursey laughs at just how enthusiastic he is. He realises as they walk through the park that he doesn’t have any good memories of New York outside of the Natural History Museum.

They make it all the way to the north end of the park, to the ice rink there, and discover a few guys playing hockey. They’re a few men short of having a proper line, so naturally, they have to offer their services.

“I dunno, man, Ginger looks a little skinny,” one of the guys says. Nursey glances at the evil smirk crossing Dex’s face and silently says a prayer for the team they’ll be opposing.

Once all five of their opponents are down and the score is 5-0 because the opposition’s goalie has nothing on Chowder, the guys frown at them.

“You guys play pro or something?” one of them asks.

“No, we’re still in college,” Dex says. He shrugs casually and Nursey realises he definitely has a _thing_ about Dex acting arrogant. “But, I guess we have been in the Frozen Four for the past two years, and we won last year, so…”

Nursey laughs and they return to Nursey’s house to relax and have a Star Wars marathon, because sure, they spent all of last summer together, but this vacation they’re on Nursey’s terms, not Dex’s.

They spend the entirety of New Year’s Eve at the Natural History Museum.

“This place is so cool,” Dex says, following Nursey through the exhibits. They get to the Rose Centre and Nursey hasn’t been back in years, but he can almost see the tiny child version of himself running around the walkway and asking whichever nanny was tasked with taking him everything he could think of about all the model planets.

“Yeah,” Nursey agrees, but much more quietly. Dex stares in awe at the pictures hanging from the wall and Nursey can actually pinpoint the moment when Dex realises that one of the plaques thanks the contributions of the Nurse family.

“Your family paid for this place?” Dex asks.

“They just contributed,” Nursey says. “It’s the only thing they ever gave money to that I agreed with.”

Nursey purposefully avoids looking at him so he can’t see if Dex looks troubled by that admission.

For the New Year, they break out some more of Nursey’s dad’s scotch, order pizza, and watch the crowd amassing in Time Square on television because Nursey will do a lot of things for Dex, but that is not one of them.

“Hey, do you want to go watch the fireworks from the roof?” Nursey suggests five minutes to midnight.

“Can you stand to be on a roof?” Dex asks. Nursey understands that this is a fair question, but he shrugs.

“I just can’t look over the edge,” Nursey says, pulling Dex to his feet and leading the way up the stairs. He has vague memories of his parents trying to teach him about how dangerous it was to go up here when he was small, and then his paralysing fear of heights made itself known, and they stopped worrying. He’s pretty sure it was the last time they ever truly worried and holy _shit_ he has got to get out of this house and this city before he drives himself insane.

The night is arctic, a chill wind whipping across the rooftops. A few houses down, his neighbours are also on their roofs, all of them staring in anticipation at the sky. The neighbours on the next street over are having a party, a whole crowd of them on the roof. Nursey hears a champagne cork pop.

Dex is shivering next to him and without thinking about it, Nursey pulls off his sweater and drapes it around Dex’s shoulders.

“Thanks,” Dex says, tugging it closer.

“Yeah, as long as your boyfriend isn’t gonna show up and accuse me of wheeling,” Nursey says. It’s cold enough that even he has gooseflesh, but not badly enough to consider getting something else warm.

“My boyfriend?” Dex repeats. He sounds genuinely confused.

“You know, the unfairly hot soccer player?” Nursey replies. _Who I may or may not have spent the beginning of break stalking online_.

“Paolo and I aren’t dating,” Dex says, frowning at him.

Nursey frowns. “Seriously? Why not?”

“Because he’s in love with his captain,” Dex says. “Who apparently also has red hair and freckles.”

“Oh,” Nursey says. They’re silent for a moment. “You slept with him though, didn’t you?”

“Well, yeah,” Dex says, raising his eyebrow when Nursey looks away. “Wait. Are _you_ seriously judging me for having a one night stand?”

“What? No!” Nursey insists, but he doesn’t like the emphasis Dex places on ‘you.’ “No, of course not. I just – you don’t seem the type.”

“I’m not,” Dex says, tightening his two sweaters around himself. Nursey wants to wrap his arms around him, but he’s pretty sure that would not go over well. “I was just having an off week.”

“Oh,” Nursey says.

They’re silent for another moment.

“So you’re not dating Paolo?” Nursey asks.

Dex shakes his head right as the people around them start counting down to midnight. At zero, everyone starts to cheer and the people at the party across the street start exchanging kisses.

“I forgot that was a tradition,” Dex says, looking over at them.

Nursey, on the other hand, is acutely aware of that fact. Almost as aware as he is of the fact Dex is definitely single and they’re huddled together for warmth and it would take all of a muscle spasm for Nursey to look left and kiss him while the fireworks explode around them.

He looks left.

Dex meets his eyes, and even though he looks nervous, Nursey sees his eyes flick down towards his mouth. They’re six inches apart, nose to nose, and Nursey starts to lean. He can feel his heart start beating out of his chest, and any chill he had is gone for good. It’d be nice to have one good memory at this house, he thinks as he lets his eyes fall shut.

And his phone rings.

He and Dex leap apart like they’ve been electrocuted and both pull their phones out of their pockets.

“It’s Granny,” Dex explains, holding up his phone and answering. He’s looking away from Nursey but Nursey can still see the bright red on his ears.

He looks at his own phone, trying to breathe evenly while his heart rate returns to normal. Chowder’s face is on his screen.

“Hey C, happy New Year,” he says. He doesn’t mean to sound as annoyed as he does, but there’s no taking it back.

“It’s not New Year here yet but check twitter!” Chowder shouts. “Check it right now! Holy shit!”

And he hangs up.

“Do you have any idea why Granny would’ve just called to ask me if I know Jack Zimmermann?” Dex asks, looking baffled as he puts his phone back in his pocket.

“Nope,” Nursey says. They’re not going to talk about it, he realises. They almost kissed and the moment is over and very, very dead and they’re never going to talk about it. “But C just told me to check Twitter. Maybe the Sharks did something ‘swawesome.”

He opens the app and shrugs at the first picture. It’s just of some pretty rainbow coloured fireworks with two guys kissing over the –

Over the Providence skyline.

“Uh,” he says, looking at the two guys more closely. They are without question Jack Zimmermann and Eric Bittle.

He checks the caption and stalls at the handle, because it’s not Bitty as he suspected.

**@NHLFalcs:** Happy New Year from Providence! #jackzimmermann #falcsforthecup2k17 #youcanplay

“Oh my god,” Nursey says, clapping his hand over his mouth and passing the phone to Dex.

“Oh my god,” Dex echoes. “Holy – can we watch this explode from inside so we don’t freeze to death?”

Nursey agrees and they retreat to his room, wrapped up in the various expensive microfiber blankets that live everywhere in his house. They prop Nursey’s laptop between their knees and stare at the twitter feed.

“I mean, it’s obviously staged,” Dex says. “The fireworks are photoshopped.”

“Sure,” Nursey says. “But do you think they planned this?”

“Obviously,” Dex says. “They’re in Montreal for the holidays. Bitty told me.”

Nursey pulls out his phone and cracks the group text open.

==SMH Group Text==

**Me:** Hey! Are you guys like totally out now?

**Bits:** that’s the idea!

**Pieces:** the Falcs always post a picture of one of their team members sharing a New Year’s kiss. George and I thought it would be a good way to show that the Falcs don’t think any differently of me.

**Holsom:** It’s a super cute pic brah.

**Ranster:** Totes. Happy New Year!

**Pieces:** thanks. It’s going to suck a bit as far as the media is concerned, but at least when we’re living together the press won’t be able to accuse us of being gay since we’ve already told them we are.

==

Nursey and Dex exchange looks over the tops of their phones and look back to Twitter. Nursey is torn between being happy for Jack and Bitty because they’re out together, but Jack is right. The media is going to be a collective bag of dicks for the foreseeable future. Because yes, Jack is an award winning hockey player, and he’s Bad Bob’s son, but…

==SMH Group Text==

**Holsom:** Don’t worry brah #gotyourback

==

* * *

 

**@jlzimmermann1 (1/1/17 12:05am EST):** Before anyone asks, yes that is a picture of me and my boyfriend Eric. RT: @nhlfalcs Happy New Year fr…

**@DickButterfieldESPN (1/1/17 12:09am EST):** @nhlfalcs well there go Zimmermann’s chances at the C or the Cup. RT: @jlzimmermann1 Before anyone asks, yes…

**@therealkvp (1/1/17 12:11am EST)** : @DickButterfieldESPN @nhlfalcs @jlzimmermann1 why? Because Zimms is dating a dude?

**@DickButterfieldESPN (1/1/17 12:12am EST)** : @therealkvp @jlzimmermann1 @nhlfalcs no gay man would have the athletic skill or ability to win the Stanley Cup and

**@DickButterfieldESPN (1/1/7 12:13am EST):** @therealkvp @jlzimmermann1 @nhlfalcs and he would be too distracted by his teammates bodies to concentrate on captaining

**@therealkvp (1/1/17 12:20am EST):** @DickButterfieldESPN @jlzimmermann1 @nhlfalcs Hasn’t stopped me yet [attached picture of Kent flipping off the camera wearing nothing but a pride flag]

**@NHLSchooners (1/1/17 12:20am EST):** @DickButterfieldESPN @nhlaces @nhlfalcs we see your forwards and raise you our best rookie D-man [attached picture of Holster kissing Ransom]

**@DickButterfieldESPN (1/1/17 7:15am EST):** @nhlschooners @nhlfalcs @nhlaces you should all hope your teams don’t get censured

**@NHLSchooners (1/1/17 8:16am EST):** @nhlfalcs @nhlaces @DickButterfieldESPN we see our d-man and raise you 45% of our team [attached pictures of ten of the Seattle Schooners in their skates, on the ice, looking somewhere between drunk and hungover, wearing various pride flags as togas]

**@DickButterfieldESPN (1/1/17 8:19am EST):** @nhlschooners does the commissioner have any idea what kind of immorality you’re allowing in Washington?

**@NHLSchooners (1/1/17 8:21am EST):** @DickButterfieldESPN A) it’s not immorality because there is nothing wrong with being LGBTQ+

**@NHLSchooners (1/1/17 8:21am EST):** @DickButterfieldESPN B) this is hockey. We pioneered #youcanplay

**@NHLSchooners (1/1/17 8:22am EST):** @DickButterfieldESPN C) this is WA. We voted in gay marriage, legal marijuana, and Obama in the same election

**@foxnews (1/1/17 9:01am EST):** Are the @nhlschooners pushing a liberal agenda onto their fans? Find out at 11! #gaygate

**@NHLSchooners (1/1/17 9:02 EST):** We absolutely are. No need to tune in. RT: @foxnews Are the Seattle Schooners pushing a lib…

* * *

 

“Nope! I found my favourite headline,” Nursey says, popping his feet up on the dash of Dex’s truck while they drive back to Samwell. “’Seattle Schooners PR Team Challenges Fox News to a Shootout; Fox New Fires Blanks.’”

Dex laughs.

“Oh, and my least favourite,” Nursey says. “’190 Fans Rejoice – Parse and Zimms Definitely Did the Do Back in the Q.’”

“190 fans?” Dex asks.

“I dunno,” Nursey says. “Parson’s 90 and Jack’s 1 aren’t they? It must be their old ship name from the fanfic.”

There’s a beat of silence in which Nursey becomes uncomfortably aware that Dex is giving him a disapproving and slightly disgusted look to the best of his ability without taking his eyes off the road.

“What?” Nursey asks. “It’s not like I’ve read any of the stuff.”

“I can’t believe I ever thought you were cool,” Dex says, shaking his head.

They spend the whole drive with Nursey filling him in on the latest in the Seattle Schooners Fight Everyone saga, which has been the main news cycle on ESPN and Sports Centre for the past two days. There has been precisely one interview with Jack, one with Bad Bob, and one with Kent Parson, and the rest of the NHL’s #gaygate, as Fox News has taken to calling it, has been devoted to Seattle.  

When they get back to the Haus, all dusted in snow and smelling of pie, they find Bitty in the kitchen sharing a cup of hot chocolate with Lardo.

“Hey!” Bitty exclaims, leaping up to pull them both into a hug.

“Hey Bits,” Nursey says. “Congrats on being in a public relationship with a famous person without it being big news.”

“I swear, I’m going to kiss Adam Birkholtz the next time I see him,” Bitty says. “I already mailed him a pie.”

“He’s responsible for the Schooners thing?” Dex asks, helping himself to hot chocolate as well and sitting down. Nursey had figured that was fairly obvious based on his “got your back” text, but apparently not.

“Yeah,” Bitty says. He sniffs. “I sent Parse a pie too. He hadn’t exactly cleared it with his PR team first, so Holster really saved all of our asses.”

“I’ve gotta say, I really liked Bad Bob’s interview,” Lardo says, picking up a cookie and offering a second one to Nursey. He accepts and sits down at the remaining chair. “Where he essentially told the reporter to fuck right off if he thought there was ever a circumstance where he wasn’t going to support his son being in a healthy, supportive, and loving relationship.”

Bitty smiles happily into his hot chocolate.

“The Zimmermanns really like you, don’t they?” Nursey asks. He doesn’t mean to immediately think about Colin Poindexter, but he does. Assumpta hasn’t texted him since Winter Screw, when he made it very clear he wasn’t interested, but so far he can only bank on Granny – not that he can really bank on anything because he and Dex are not together.

“Yeah,” Bitty agrees. He takes another sip of his chocolate and then sighs. “How many of y’all knew we were together before we told you?”

“None of us knew,” Dex says promptly.

“Most of us suspected,” Lardo continues. “You guys were…on the wrong side of subtle, Bits.”

Bitty blushes but doesn’t look any worse than sheepish.

“So, he’s a really good kisser, right?” Nursey asks. Partly because he wants to know for sheer curiosity’s sake, and partly because if he were in Bitty’s shoes, in a secret relationship with a phenomenally hot hockey player for going on two years without being able to talk about it to his friends, he would want to blather for days.

“Oh my _goodness_ yes,” Bitty says, and then he’s off. It’s clear from the fond smiles on Dex and Lardo’s faces that they also are very okay with listening to Bitty talk about his boyfriend for a while. Nursey’s just glad that someone’s in a happy relationship.

They only head off to bed at three in the morning and Nursey is abundantly relieved to be back in the Haus where he can hear the bunkbed creak every time Dex turns over in his sleep, and they’re not in separate rooms, let alone separate states. He finds himself thinking about Jack and Bitty and Holster and Ransom. From the story they just heard downstairs, Bitty had hugged Jack goodbye at graduation, thinking it was probably going to be the last time they saw each other. And Jack had run across campus just to kiss him goodbye. Ransom and Holster had been together for years without admitting it because they both thought the other was straight. Belatedly, he realises they probably _did_ have sex on his bed at some point in the past three years, but he can ignore that.

He just has to make sure to tell Dex the truth before they end up in either of those situations.

* * *

 

Lardo is still there in the morning, curled up on New Couch, but she accepts the coffee Nursey brings her and promptly uses him as a pillow.

“Did you just come over to check up on Bitty?” he asks.

“Nah,” Lardo says. “I mean, yeah, but I had to get away from Shitty.”

“Oh,” Nursey says, because that’s surprising to him. “Why?”

“Law school’s driving him crazy and we live in a studio apartment,” Lardo replies. “I just can’t be around him all the time.”

Nursey nods, because he can see how that would go. “Are you guys together?”

“Nah,” Lardo says, but not as dismissive as earlier. Now it’s a little sad.

“Why not?” Nursey asks. “I thought you guys were a sure thing.”

Lardo startles and frowns at him. “You did?”

“I’m pretty sure everyone does,” he says. He doesn’t understand why she’s so surprised by this.

“But he thinks I’m just one of the bros,” Lardo protests.

Nursey frowns right back at her. “No he doesn’t. Like, it’s Shitty so he’s not gonna bitch about being in the friendzone or some shit since that’s the most aggravating Straight Male thing anyone could possibly do, but, like, bro’s mad in love with you, Lards.”

Lardo is clearly surprised by this information, which is shocking to Nursey. He thought she was well aware and just didn’t return his affections or something, not that she didn’t know Shitty was into her.

“Really?” she asks.

“We were super high one night and he said ‘bruh I’d totally take her name. I’d be Mr Duan in a second’,” Nursey says.

“Oh,” Lardo says. “Um. Okay. I think I’m gonna bounce.”

Nursey shrugs, simply glad he could help.

“Thanks Nursey,” she says, pausing to kiss him on the cheek.

Once she’s gone, Nursey makes himself more coffee. He grabs a second mug and adds a spoonful of sugar before retreating to the attic. It’s much colder than the rest of the Haus, he realises, and he’s glad he bought Dex the Grumpy Cat blanket.

Dex is in the shower, so Nursey sets his coffee down on the desks and realises Dex’s phone is lying right there with his headphones still attached. Curious, because as they’d established over the summer that Imagine Dragons was the mellowest music Dex listens to, Nursey puts in his headphones and clicks the home button. The album art is fairly innocuous, black with a white outline of an umbrella and a couple raindrops. He presses play.

It’s a little louder than most of the stuff he listens to but he’s fine with that. Actually, it’s not that bad, he thinks during the opening verse. The chorus is a little screamy, but it’s not worrying. At least, it’s not that worrying until it gets towards the end of the song, because that’s when it’s slow enough for Nursey to start listening to the actual lyrics.

_ You make me want to slit my wrists and play in my own blood _

_ You make me want to kill myself just for the fucking fun _

Nursey tears out the headphones and practically throws them across the desk, recoiling in horror. He’s still staring at Dex’s iPod the way Bitty looks at people who desecrate his pies by the time Dex gets back from the shower.

“Are you okay?” Dex asks.

“What the fuck music do you _listen_ to?” Nursey demands, pointing at the phone.

Dex raises his eyebrow and clicks the home button. “Oh. Yeah, the lead singer’s kind of hot,” he says and Nursey can do nothing but stare at him reproachfully. He doesn’t know if he should be concerned for Dex’s mental health, or if, like he said that summer, it’s helpful to listen to angry music because it keeps the bad thoughts on the outside.

“Is he?” Nursey asks instead, because it really isn’t often that Dex opens up about things like this. They’ve talked about boys precisely twice and both times they were boys Dex either had or was about to sleep with, and Nursey cannot find a connection between Steve from Poindexterville and Paolo Hernandez so he really has no idea what Dex’s type is.

He wonders absently if he might not be in this whole in-love-with-his-best-friend mess if he had a type himself.

“Yeah, if you like tattoos,” Dex says. He freezes with the rim of his coffee cup pressed against his lip just hard enough for the pressure to displace the blood vessels and turn his lower lip white. “I’m going to go see if Bitty needs help with breakfast.”

He practically sprints from the room, leaving Nursey to stare at the tattoos on his arms and hope blindly.

* * *

 

It’s the day before class starts that Nursey can’t fall asleep. It’s because Dex is shivering so hard he’s shaking the entire bunk bed. Nursey would assume he was doing something else, but he can hear Dex’s teeth chattering.

“Do you want my blankets?” he asks.

“What?” Dex replies. “No. I’m fine.”

“You’re shaking the bed,” Nursey informs him.

“Sorry,” Dex says.

For a moment, he tries not to shake, but it stops working pretty quickly. Nursey only ever shivers when he’s had too much vodka right before trying to sleep.

“Dex,” Nursey tries again.

“Back in August when you joked that I was welcome to sleep with you in months that weren’t the summer and we stopped talking for a week?” Dex starts. “How much did you mean that?”

Nursey laughs, hoping he doesn’t sound nervous about it. “I’m definitely not coming up there,” he says. “But you can come down here if you want.”

Dex is out of bed in a second and Nursey sees through the dim light coming from their window that he’s wearing his cable knit sweater, his knit hat, a giant pair of woolly socks, and is wrapped tightly in the Grumpy Cat blanket. Nursey is wearing boxers and a t-shirt.

“Why are you so warm?” Dex asks, clearly too cold to be embarrassed as he crawls over Nursey and buries himself in all of the blankets, wedged between Nursey and the wall.

“I dunno,” Nursey says, tucking the blankets over Dex and trying to go back to sleep.

Dex stops shivering after a few minutes, and his breathing evens out. As the tension leaves his frame, he softens and oozes onto Nursey, his head tucking under Nursey’s chin and one of his still frozen hands resting on Nursey’s stomach.

Nursey stares down at Dex’s face and swallows down the lump in his throat. He wants this to be standard night time procedure so badly it hurts.

His resolve forms then. He has to tell him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Seattle, WA – 31 December 2016 – roughly 9:05 PM PST_  
>  **Schooners Goalie #23:** Hey, check, Zimmermann just came out on Twitter  
>  **Holster:** Wait what  
>  **Schooners Forward #14:** Holy shit brah!  
>  **Schooners D-Man #8:** Dude. Dudes. Parson just told the dickhead ESPN dude to go fuck himself  
>  **Ransom, doing med school homework in the corner:** don’t you guys have more LGBT+ people than any other team in the league? Including your owner?  
>  **Schooners’ Owner, a stand up gent:** Yup.  
>  **Holster:** Permission to also come out on Twitter to make the dickhead ESPN dude regret his life choices? Actually, Zimmermann’s a friend from college and hates publicity like this. Can we steal the news cycle and make it about how the Schooners are the most liberal team in the League?  
>  **Schooners’ Owner:** …yes. 
> 
> The song lyrics Nursey despairs over are from the song "What You Need" by Bring Me the Horizon. 
> 
> Come cry with me on [tumblr](http://omgericzimmermann.tumblr.com).  
> (and yes, the ESPN commentator's name is Dick Butt because I have the maturity of a 12 year old despite being nearly twice that)


	6. The Poet Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my [beta](http://catsilhouette.tumblr.com)! Thank you to everyone who says really nice things in the comments, they make my day so much better you guys you have no idea.
> 
> ETA: So for the three of you who clicked on the chapter and were like "what the fiddlesticks why does it cut off suddenly?" I have fixed the problem. I tried to get fancy with my emoticons and AO3 was like "Or we could just brutally axe the second half of your chapter!!!" It's fixed now.

==Assumpta==

 **Assumpta:** did u kiss him at NYE?

 **Assumpta:** have you asked him out yet???

 **Assumpta:** will

 **Assumpta:** will answer me

 **Assumpta:** billy

 **Assumpta:** William Josiah Poindexter update me on your love life RIGHT NOW

 **Me:** jesus

 **Me:** no, I didn’t, no I haven’t, please go away

 **Assumpta:** :’’’(((

==

Dex deletes the text message thread before Nursey can open his phone and read it. Dex is still a little panicked about the fact he told Nursey he finds tattoos sexy, but he also can’t figure out why people wouldn’t.

But he’s putting his own love life on the back burner because sure, the Seattle Schooners stole the news cycle and none of the reporters are bugging Jack or Bitty about their relationship, but that doesn’t mean the teams they’re playing against haven’t been. They’re playing Yale when Dex breaks a guy’s ribs for making a shitty comment about Bitty and Jack. He doesn’t get a penalty for it since it was a perfectly legal check, and if he gets a little too happy about the fact the puck he stole goes straight to an assist for Tango, that’s his business.

Their game against Brown is another thing entirely, though, since it’s a home game for Brown and they’re all down in Providence. Jack shows up for the game to support Bitty, along with a couple of the other Falconers. Dex isn’t sure what he expects from the Brown team but he’s relieved when the game is clean and the captain of Brown’s team is too busy psyching himself out about the fact _the_ Jack Zimmermann and _the_ Alexei Mashkov are in the stands and rooting for his opposition to really play that well.

After the game, Jack invites them all over to his apartment. There’s something definitely comforting about watching Bitty be so at home in Jack’s kitchen, whipping them up four pies in the space of half an hour. He knows where everything is, and Jack keeps anticipating what he’s going to ask for and handing him more butter or a new spoon like a practiced nurse assisting in an operation with a familiar surgeon. It actually makes Dex’s chest hurt a little because he’s fairly certain that’s not something he’s ever going to have.

“Hey, are you okay?” Nursey asks, dragging Dex down onto the couch next to him.

“Yeah, fine,” Dex says, grabbing another piece of pie from the coffee table. He tries not to think about the fact Nursey had very nearly kissed him on New Year’s Eve (he regrets ever sending Assumpta a text asking if she had remembered that was a tradition) or the fact the attic is so damn cold all the time he’s been sleeping in Nursey’s bed for the past two weeks. He tries not to think about the fact their legs are pressed together on the couch to make room for Whiskey and Tango.

“You just seem a little…” Nursey starts. Then he shrugs. “Nah. It’s chill.”

Dex rolls his eyes and continues to work on his pie.

By the time they leave Providence and head back to Samwell, the entire team has been invited to the Falcs’ next game – which is against the Bruins. Chowder and Bitty immediately start planning the kegster that will follow at the Haus, making sure everyone essential invited – particularly the majority of the Falconers. At first Dex thinks it’s a silly idea because why would the Falconers – all professional hockey players – want to come party with a bunch of college kids. Then he remembers that they’re all professional hockey players and Jack is like the fourth oldest person on the team.

He isn’t aware of falling asleep on the bus, but it’s become such habit to fall asleep on Nursey that he’s not really surprised when he does. He wakes up when they get to Samwell, but only because Nursey is elbowing him.

“Your phone is buzzing,” he says. His voice is low like he doesn’t want to disturb Dex even though he’s in the process of waking him up.

“Oh,” Dex says, pulling it out of his pocket. The text is, unsurprisingly, from Assumpta.

It wasn’t that they didn’t get along as kids. They got along just as well as anyone does with their siblings, maybe a little better because Colin liked to place the same expectations on them, but they had never been close. Dex had never been particularly close with any of his siblings, especially not Colin, Jamie, and Siobhan who are ten, seven, and five years older than him. That being said, Assumpta hasn’t left him alone since he came out to her, and he figures they should probably at some point have the conversation about how every guy she dated in high school happened to be one of the guys he had a crush on, but the extent to which he hates talking about vulnerable emotions like that can’t be quantified by man or science.

==Assumpta==

 **Assumpta:** hey are you going to the Falcs vs Bruins game next week?

 **Me:** yeah. Jack got us tickets.

 **Assumpta:** awesome! Can he get me one too?

 **Me:** …you /want/ to go to a hockey game?

 **Assumpta:** I want to see you, and interfere in your love life, and support Jack. I’ve been following the whole story and it would be so awesome to actually meet him.

 **Me:** ugh

 **Me:** fine. I’ll see what I can do

 **Assumpta:** wicked :)

==

Dex grimaces at his phone and puts it away. He reclaims his bag from Nursey and shoulders it, still shaking his head at Assumpta. It’s not like they haven’t been going to school in practically the same city for the past three years, but she never showed interest until now.

“What’s up?” Nursey asks.

“Oh, Assumpta wants to come to the Falcs and Bruins game,” Dex says. “I think she’s trying to be supportive.”

“Oh,” Nursey says. He doesn’t say anything else until they get to the Haus. “Are you crashing with me tonight?”

Dex considers the temperature of the attic, weighs the level of awkward this is inflicting on their friendship, and then agrees. He’s too tired to worry about it.

* * *

 

The Falcs v. Bruins game is highly anticipated by the Samwell Men’s Hockey team, ESPN, the NHL, and everyone following Fox News’ #gaygate since it’s the first game Jack will have played since coming out. To the great amusement of many of the people watching it unfold, the hashtag has been mostly co-opted by the Schooners who keep taking pictures of themselves in front of various gates and using the hashtag. The one that went viral was of one of them in front of the gate to Bill Gates’ property.

Assumpta meets them at the Garden and to Dex’s surprise, she’s wearing a Zimmermann jersey and a Falcs hat.

“Do you think I can get him to sign my jersey?” she says by way of greeting.

“Absolutely,” Bitty says, beaming at her. “You’re coming to the party after right?”

“Sure!” Assumpta says, grinning back at him. “Will, you should’ve told me you had nice friends. I would’ve come to visit more often.”

“You never asked,” Dex points out.

“I just assumed they were all like you,” Assumpta says, linking elbows with Bitty. She hasn’t done more than smile once at Nursey in greeting and Dex is grateful for small mercies. “You know, standoffish short-tempered assholes.”

“Love you too, sis,” Dex says, grumbling when she stretches on her toes to kiss him on the cheek.

The tickets Jack got them for the game are for good seats. Dex carries most of the concessions, because Chowder forgets he’s holding them half the time and Nursey has gotten more food on his Zimmermann jersey than Dex has ever eaten in his life but despite Nursey tripping and grabbing Dex’s arm halfway down, everything remains intact. Their group takes up a sizeable portion of the stands and they draw a lot of looks from the other fans around them. Dex isn’t sure if this is because Ollie and Wicks are fighting over who gets to hold the “Yo marry me Jack Zimmermann” sign or if it’s because there’s twenty-five people in one group wearing Zimmermann jerseys. Lardo, who has shown up with Shitty, has rainbow tie-dyed both their jerseys.

The game starts and it’s brutal. In the first period, there are four illegal checks, two on each side, and Jack scores for the Falcs. The Bruins come close, very nearly getting them past Snowy, but even from their seats, Dex can see the look of determination in his eye.

The second period is worse. Jack scores again and immediately gets checked into the boards hard enough that the crowd gasps. Bitty’s eyes are huge and he’s squeezing Dex and Assumpta so hard Dex is shocked his arm isn’t broken. But then Jack waves at them, smiles, blows Bitty a kiss of all things, and skates through. Tater takes the penalty shot and makes it. The Falcs are up by three.

The third period is the hardest to watch. The Bruins are playing dirty, and the Falcs are giving it right back. There’s only three minutes left on the clock when Jack tips it in glove side and they fall back to defending their goalie.

It’s a shutout.

The Falcs fans, especially their side of the arena, go wild. Dex, Nursey, Chowder, Ollie, and Wicks throw their hats towards the ice without thinking about it and Dex only realises Assumpta is staring at him when she asks him what the hell he’s doing.

“Jack got a hat trick,” Bitty explains. “I wish I hadn’t left my hat at home.”

While Chowder explains what a hat trick is to Assumpta and adds that this is a particularly remarkable game since not only had the Falcs scored a hat trick plus one but that their goalie had got a shutout, Dex scans the crowd and feels fairly confident there’s going to be a scrum of the fan-on-fan variety in the parking lot and suggests they get the hell out of there while they still can. Chowder agrees, but Bitty is running down the steps and meeting Jack at the tunnel. From their seats, they can all see Jack take off his helmet and assure Bitty that he’s fine, that the check wasn’t too serious. They kiss quickly and Dex doesn’t have to open Twitter to know it’s going to be everywhere in a few minutes.

“We should get back to the Haus,” Shitty suggests.

Everyone else agrees, Bitty having been dragged away from Jack so he can go shower, and they beat a hasty retreat to Samwell. As Dex predicted, the parking lot is full of Falcs and Bruins fans getting into it, and he’s glad he can see the cops coming in to try and pull them apart.

The kegster starts fairly mellow, or as mellow as any kegster held at their Haus ever could, with just the hockey team, WTF’s few acceptable lax bro friends, and the women’s volleyball team making an appearance.

“You guys throw a pretty sick party,” Assumpta says, sipping a cup of Shitty’s tub juice. Dex winces because he’s smart enough not to touch tub juice with a ten foot pole, but he can’t really fault her. She’ll learn.

“This is actually pretty chill for us,” Nursey says over the music, smiling in a way that makes Dex’s heart catch.

Assumpta’s eyes light up and she turns to grin at Dex. “Will!” she exclaims. “I’m so proud of you! You were so against any parties in high school and now look at you!”

“That’s because I was afraid I was going to get drunk and start telling people I was gay,” Dex points out. “And then Colin would find out.”

“Oh,” Assumpta says, her face falling. “Right.”

Dex doesn’t sigh dramatically or roll his eyes. He appreciates that she’s trying, even if she doesn’t really get it. Anything he might want to say is interrupted, however, by a handful of the Falconers showing up.

Bitty makes a beeline for Jack and kisses him to general wolf whistles from the crowd. Dex would expect Jack to glare at them, or look uncomfortable, but it looks like he doesn’t even really notice.

Tater, Poots, and Snowy hang back near the doors, seemingly unsure of what they’re supposed to do at a party. Without much prompting, Bitty gets Tater to dance with him since Jack would rather prop up a wall and chat with Chowder and Farmer. Poots and Snowy, though, keep looking awkward, hands in their pockets,  gazing aimlessly across the room.

“You’d think they’ve never been to a party before,” Assumpta says, nodding at the two.

“Well, honestly,” Dex says. “Poots is a rookie fresh out of the draft and I’m pretty sure he’s nineteen.”

“Oh,” Assumpta says. “Okay.”

She gives her cup of tub juice to Dex and marches straight over to them. Dex can’t hear what she’s saying over the music, but she grabs them both by the hand and drags them off. The next time Dex sees them, they each have red solo cups and are smiling at her. Dex loses sight of them for a second, and when he next sees Poots, he’s joined WTF in an impassioned conversation about something – Dex thinks he hears the word aliens – and the next time he spots Snowy, he’s in the middle of the dance floor with Assumpta, who has lost her Zimmermann jersey in favour of a tube top.

“I think your sister just successfully wheeled a pro hockey player,” Nursey says, sipping more of his tub juice. “A really hot one, too.”

“And yet you were immune,” Dex hears himself say. He wants to slap his hand over his mouth because apparently he’s been drinking more than he thought, but that would be really awkward for many reasons. He takes a sip to avoid saying anything else.

“I – yeah, I guess I was,” Nursey says.

He takes a very deep drink of his tub juice and goes for a refill before Dex can ask why. Why would Nursey, who is a fairly normal college student, be immune to Assumpta when it takes her all of ten seconds to wrap an NHL player around her finger and – and they’ve disappeared, Dex realises. He doesn’t want to know where they went. God, he hopes all the doors are locked.

“Here, drink with me Dex,” Nursey says, handing him a cup of tub juice. Dex sighs, knowing he’ll probably regret it, but he drinks anyway.

They keep drinking and it’s only when it’s late enough it could technically be considered early that Dex realises they’re back in the attic curled like sardines in Nursey’s bed and Nursey is reciting poetry at him.

“She walks in beauty,” he says. “Like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies; and all that’s best of dark and bright meet in her aspect and her eyes--”

“Who are you quoting now?” Dex asks.

“Byron,” Nursey replies promptly. He yawns hugely, stretching his arms above his head, and brings them back down to wrap around Dex’s shoulders. “G’night Dexy.”

“Night,” Dex says. He can feel Nursey’s heartbeat under his cheek, the burning heat that radiates from him at all times, and Dex _wants_. He wants to feel Nursey’s heart speed up, feel his skin under his fingers, wants Nursey to quote poetry at him, wants it to mean something when Nursey wraps his arms around him, something more than just keeping a friend from freezing to death in his sleep.

* * *

 

==Assumpta==

 **Me:** you left the party pretty early

 **Assumpta:** oh? Did I? Oops!

 **Me:** …

 **Assumpta:** what?

 **Me:** …

 **Assumpta:** if you’re asking if I went to a second location with an NHL player

 **Me:** yeah. I am.

 **Assumpta:** :D

 **Assumpta:** I /love/ hockey

==

* * *

 

Bitty is in a blind panic. As far as Dex can tell, he’s been in a blind panic for a while. He bases this on the myriad of cookies, pies, cupcakes, normal cakes, and apparently baklava that are taking up the kitchen.

“Uh, are you okay?” Dex asks.

“Me? Why wouldn’t I be fine?” Bitty asks, pulling a soufflé out of the oven. There’s not a single surface in the kitchen where he can safely set it. When Bitty realises this, he deflates and sits on the floor, still cradling the soufflé.

“What’s up?” Dex asks.

“Oh,” Bitty says. “It’s – it’s nothing.”

“Bitty,” Dex says, gesturing at the food. He knows Bitty’s working on his senior thesis, and these could theoretically be recipes he’s trying for that project, but it seems unlikely. Dex grabs a piece of baklava and sits on the floor with him.

“Just Twitter,” Bitty says with an attempt at a smile. “It’s a good thing Jack’s pretty much technologically incompetent or I think he’d be on a plane to Georgia right now.”

“Your parents?” Dex asks.

“Oh gosh no,” Bitty says. He sighs. “My cousins. It’s kind of funny ‘cause Holster and Parse have been pretty much teaming up to fight back against anyone who sends homophobic comments my way, but they didn’t realise that the latest batch were, y’know, related to me.”

Dex doesn’t know what else to say aside from “I’m sorry” so he tries that anyway. Bitty smiles at him.

“It’s just awkward ‘cause I have some stuff still in Georgia and I don’t want to ask my parents to drive it up for me when I move to Providence,” Bitty says. His eyes widen and he almost drops the soufflé. “In three months. I’m moving to Providence in three months. I’m graduating from _college_ in three months!”

“You’re going to be fine, Bits,” Dex says. “And if anyone tries to fuck with you in person, Nursey and I will fuck them up.”

Bitty smiles at him again. “But how are you? Your sister seems pretty cool. Jack said she was down in Providence last weekend for something. Apparently he ran into her at the mall.”

“What was Jack doing in a mall?” Dex asks.

“He wouldn’t tell me,” Bitty says. “Apparently Assumpta was at Sephora though. But doesn’t she live in Boston? Don’t we have one of those?”

“Yeah,” Dex says, because he has a bad feeling about what Assumpta was doing in Providence. “I think she might be dating Snowy.”

“The Falcs’ goalie Snowy?” Bitty asks, his eyes huge. Dex nods. “Well, at least I’ll know someone in the WAG section.”

“I’m sorry about your family,” Dex says.

“Thanks,” Bitty says. “I should figure out what I’m gonna do with all this food. Maybe I’ll mail it to Holster and Ransom.”

“I’m sure they’d appreciate that,” Dex says. He stands up, grabs a stack of oatmeal raisin cookies, and retreats to the attic. Nursey, as expected, is sitting at his desk chewing on a pen while he works on his homework. Dex drops the weird cookies on one of his textbooks and sits down at his own desk. He tries to ignore the fact that in order to sit at these desks comfortably, he has to stretch his legs out. Nursey does too, and they’re tall enough that they have to lace their legs like fingers folding together. Dex can actually feel the heat of Nursey’s calf near his, and honestly, it’s a little distracting.

“I don’t know how Holster and Ransom survived having these desks without touching each other all the time,” Dex says.

“Bruh, it was Holster and Ransom,” Nursey points out. “They _were_ touching each other all the time. Holtzy probably had his feet in Ransom’s lap most of the time.”

“God, you know, I told myself I was going to stop considering anything they did as a standard for normal friendship behaviour,” Dex says. “Like, pretty much the second they mentioned platonic sex.”

“I dunno, I could see the benefit,” Nursey says.

He sounds distracted enough as he says it that Dex realises he’s still over invested in his paper. He probably hasn’t even realised what he’s said. And Dex is left on his side of their too-close-together desks convincing himself it would absolutely be a bad idea to propose platonic sex, if for no other reason than he would never be able to consider it platonic.

* * *

 

Nursey’s twenty-first marks the next occasion for a party. Dex honestly doesn’t remember most of it by the next morning, but he has a vague idea there were lax bros, there were volleyball girls, there was the soccer team – oh. And that’s right, he met Paolo’s captain who does look rather alarmingly like Dex. And then somewhere around three in the morning, they were all in a circle on the floor with an empty bottle of vodka spinning, and spinning and –

Over the course of their game of spin-the-bottle, Dex is prompted to make out with Farmer, with Foxtrot, with Paolo and Paolo’s captain, and with Bitty. He spends the whole game watching the bottle spin until it makes him dizzy. He’s pretty sure Nursey kisses Chowder, Whiskey, Paolo, one of Farmer’s volleyball friends. And because Dex is watching the bottle, he knows exactly when it lands on him.

His heart rate picks up, he can feel himself start to blush, and he’s still _so dizzy_ from watching the bottle spin and he’s had so much vodka and—

“I have to go puke,” he announces, sprinting from the room. He just barely makes it to the bathroom. Bitty finds him later and gives him a very large bottle of water and some pepto-bismol if he thinks that’ll help. Dex thanks him with the sort of profusion that can only come from the deeply inebriated and Bitty helps him back to the attic.

“Can you get back up to your bunk?” Bitty asks.

“I haven’t been sleeping there,” Dex admits. He’s sober enough to see Bitty’s eyes go wide.

“Haven’t you?” he asks.

Dex shakes his head, regrets it, and tips sideways onto the pillows of Nursey’s bed so that his head can stop spinning. “I get too cold,” he explains.

“Uh huh,” Bitty says. He sighs and smooths Dex’s hair away from his face like a concerned mother. “Dex, you know we all know you like Nursey, right?”

“What? No! I don’t!” Dex insists because it’s easier. It’s so much easier, would be so much easier, if Dex didn’t like Nursey.

“It’s okay, honey, he’s totally gone on you too,” Bitty says, patting Dex on the cheek and leaving him with the water and the pepto.

Nursey makes it back to the attic a few minutes – maybe it’s hours, Dex can’t really tell – later and crawls into bed with him.

“You’re not going to puke on me, are you?” he asks. Nursey wraps his arm around Dex’s chest and pulls him back so they’re pressed together.

“No,” Dex says.

“Good,” Nursey says. Dex can hear the tiredness and the alcohol in his voice when he mumbles, “You still owe me a kiss.”

* * *

 

==Assumpta==

 **Assumpta:** what did you do for Derek’s birthday? (also why do you guys call him Nursey?)

 **Me:** it’s his nickname. I’ve never called him Derek. And actually, no one except the family has called me Will since I started playing hockey.

 **Assumpta:** oh. Sorry to – is it mislabeling?

 **Me:** not really. It’s not like the name Will gives me war flashbacks or anything. But yeah, everyone calls me Dex.

 **Assumpta:** Ok cool! Why are you avoiding the question of what you did for Nursey’s birthday?

 **Me:** we played spin the bottle

 **Assumpta:** just the two of you?!?!?!

 **Me:** no.

 **Assumpta:** but did you kiss him???

 **Me:** no.

 **Me:** he spun the bottle and it landed on me and I threw up.

 **Assumpta:**  :'D

 **Me:** yeah yea shut up

==

* * *

 

They don’t talk about it the same way they haven’t talked about New Year. Nursey doesn’t bring up the fact that Dex vomited when faced with the prospect of kissing him, or the fact that he theoretically owes him a kiss, and Dex is just fine with that.

To make matters worse (or better, Dex is sort of on the fence about it) the weather starts to get warmer and he’s capable of sleeping in his own bed without dying.

“Yeah, it’s probably for the best,” Nursey says the first night Dex is back in his bed. “I mean, you breathing in my ear was sort of distracting from when I was trying to sleep.”

“Sorry,” Dex grumbles, pulling his pillow over his head and trying to sleep. He’s not nearly as warm as he was when he was still sleeping in Nursey’s bed, but there’s no sensible reason for him to be there anymore, and he doesn’t think the comment that he sleeps better when he’s wrapped around Nursey is going to go over well.

Spring semester gets more intense partway through March with midterms. Dex is pretty sure he’s going to fail his introductory English class, which he had put off until junior year because English was always his worst subject in school, because he keeps refusing to take the authors at anything more than face value. Nursey tries to help him, but it doesn’t work very well.

“Like the colour red,” Nursey says. “It doesn’t mean just red, it’s strawberries in July and it’s blood and it’s a blush, and the first sparks of fall when the tips of the leaves start to turn and you know the world’s about to change, and it’s fire, and love.”

Dex stares at him across the desks.

“What’s orange?” he asks.

“Jack-o-lanterns and Halloween, satsumas in December, a friend,” Nursey says. Dex isn’t entirely sure he’s paying real attention to himself or to Dex, so Dex keeps going.

“Yellow?”

“The first sunny day in April, fields of sunflowers against a stark blue sky, the paint Van Gogh drank to try and feel happy,” Nursey says.

“Will you do that for every colour?” Dex asks.

“Do what?” Nursey replies, looking up from his computer screen. “Sorry, what were we talking about?”

“You’re a dork,” Dex informs him, looking back at his own homework.

“What poem do you have to analyse?” Nursey asks.

“Ozymandias,” Dex says. He’s pretty sure he just slaughtered the pronunciation, but he doesn’t really care. “And I don’t even know what that is.”

“It’s the Greek name for Ramses II, the pharaoh in Egypt,” Nursey says.

“Really? You just know the Pharaohs of Egypt off the top of your head?” Dex asks, trying not to laugh when Nursey looks embarrassed about it.

“Okay, no, I don’t,” Nursey says. “Did you never read _Watchmen_?”

Dex shakes his head which gets him a horrified stare and a thick yellow and black comic book thrown at his head.

“There, if you want the colour yellow,” Nursey says. “It’s the colour of smiley faces and failure.”

“What?” Dex asks.

“It’ll make sense once you read it,” Nursey says, returning to his homework. “What other classes are you taking this semester?”

“Uh, Engineering 309, multivariable calculus, and an astronomy elective,” Dex says. He doesn’t mention that he’s taking the astronomy elective solely because of Nursey dragging him to the Rose Centre and showing him all of the space pictures he has. Nursey’s Star Wars posters have slowly found their way up on the walls in the attic and Dex kind of likes it, even if he was always more of a Star Trek person.

“Oh, how’s your astronomy class?” Nursey asks, his eyes lighting up.

It almost makes Dex angry, how good Nursey looks when he’s enthusiastic about something. His eyes go from dusty grey-green to warm, and the set of his face makes him look so much happier than when he’s “chill.” Nursey always looks good, but when he’s excited about something it’s almost criminal. Dex briefly wonders if he’d look that good in bed but stops himself before he accidentally goes down that rabbit hole. Because it’s one thing to have a crush on your roommate that you know is unrequited – are fairly sure is unrequited – but it’s entirely another to have to leave the room and go jack off in the shower because you’ve been picturing your roommate naked in bed under you. There’s a line there somewhere and Dex doesn’t want to cross it.

“It’s good,” Dex says. “There’s a lot of math and I’m good at that part, but the parts with the whole identifying constellations is something I am very bad at.”

Nursey grins. “When it gets warmer and you won’t freeze, we should take the truck out somewhere and I can point them out.”

“Are you inviting me to go stargazing?” Dex asks.

“Yeah,” Nursey says. He grins again, and Dex tries not to read too much into the fact that stargazing is typically a romantic activity.

* * *

 

==Assumpta==

 **Assumpta:** I’m coming to the final!

 **Me:** it’s in Chicago

 **Assumpta:** Yeah! I got tickets

 **Assumpta:** Snowy says the Falcs are going to represent as well, because of Bitty and Zimmboni.

 **Me:** did your sugar daddy boyfriend buy you tickets to Chicago?

 **Assumpta:** he’s literally thirteen months older than me.

 **Assumpta:** and very wealthy.

 **Assumpta:** and yes.

 **Assumpta:** yes he did.

==

* * *

 

They make it to the final. They beat the shit out of North Dakota in the semis and wind up facing off against Yale. Dex becomes aware at some point during the game that one of the Falcs – who looks from a distance an awful lot like Alexei Mashkov – is carrying a sign that says “Yo marry me Eric Bittle.” As they line up for the face off, Dex hears a familiar booming chant from the crowd of “red and white.” With the few seconds he has to check before he has to be thinking about hockey 110%, he finds the spot in the stands where Holster and Ransom are chanting and wearing their old Samwell jerseys.

Then it’s time for the drop and the only thing Dex can hear is the scrape of skates on ice and blood rushing past his ears. He’s so in the zone he doesn’t even realise he’s scored the final goal in the game until he’s being tackled by the rest of the team at centre ice. Then all the Samwell fans are spilling onto the ice and they’re being picked up and manhandled by Holster and Ransom and the Falcs and Dex realises they just won.

“The drinks are on me!” Tater shouts above the noise of the crowd, which is how Dex finds himself at a bar in Chicago with his teammates – at least the juniors and seniors – and a host of professional hockey players. He’s wedged into the corner of one booth between Nursey and Assumpta who is nestled under Snowy’s arm but keeps reaching over to ruffle Dex’s hair. The others keep buying him shots that look increasingly complicated and horrifying but Dex can’t really refuse them all so he shares some with Nursey and Assumpta.

“So Nursey!” Assumpta says. “Are you staying at Granny’s again this summer?”

“If you guys will have me,” Nursey says. “I absolutely am not going back to New York.”  

“Oh good,” Assumpta says. She looks at Dex and seems suddenly concerned. “Are you going to be okay?”

“With what?” Dex asks.

“Colin,” Assumpta says.

Dex sighs. “I’ve been living with him for almost twenty-two years, and nothing’s changed so yeah, I think I’ll be fine.”

“Who’s Colin?” Snowy asks.

“Our homophobic cockhole older brother,” Assumpta says, knocking back one of Dex’s shots. Dex and Nursey stare at her and Dex feels something between shock and pride at her condemnation of Colin’s character.

“Oh,” Snowy says. “Can I fight him?”

Dex realises then that he doesn’t know a lot about Snowy other than the fact he’s a damn good goalie and a professional hockey player. And that he wears eyeliner.

“Dibs,” Nursey says. Snowy nods in affirmation of Nursey’s right to those dibs and neither Dex nor Assumpta pipe up to mention it’s not the same situation. Snowy is tangentially part of the family since he’s dating someone in it; Nursey is technically just Dex’s best friend.

When they finally get back to the hotel, it finally occurs to Dex that Nursey doesn’t seem to have been in the same state as his parents for going on two years.

“Nursey?” he asks, turning on his side so he can stare across the gap between their beds in Nursey’s direction.

“Yeah,” Nursey says.

“When was the last time you saw your parents?” Dex asks.

Nursey thinks about it for a moment. “June of 2015.”

“Is that – like – how does that even--”

“We have an arrangement,” Nursey says, and Dex can hear the bitterness creeping into his voice. “My credit card has a 16 thousand dollar limit and they pay it.”

It feels like a punch to the stomach, but Dex manages to brush it off.

“Have you talked to them more recently though?” he asks.

“They texted me on the sixteenth to wish me a happy birthday,” Nursey says after a moment.

“Wait, is your birthday actually on the sixteenth and you just tell people it’s Valentine’s Day because--”

“The sixteenth of March,” Nursey interrupts and Dex falls silent. “But just so Snowy knows, I absolutely have dibs on fighting Colin.”

Dex thinks but doesn’t say that he has dibs on fighting Nursey’s parents should he ever meet them.

* * *

 

==Assumpta==

 **Assumpta:** so I know you don’t graduate for like a year

 **Assumpta:** but what are you gonna do? Like with your life?

 **Me:** uh

 **Me:** ask Iain or Siobhan or Jamie all of whom have already graduated?

 **Assumpta:** yeah but you’re my fav

 **Me:** What are YOU going to do when you graduate? In a month?

 **Assumpta:** I’m thinking Hockey Wife

 **Me:** you have been dating for five months.

 **Assumpta:** sure, but Bitty and I are gonna go hang out in Providence. And he’s gonna do all the baking and we’re gonna be BFFs.

 **Me:** you know I meant it as a joke when I called him a sugar daddy

 **Assumpta:** yeah

 **Me:** I take back the part where it’s a joke

==

* * *

 

May brings spectacular weather to Samwell. The skies are clear, the air is warm, and finals are almost over. They have to drag Bitty, Ollie, and Wicks to centre ice at Faber and make them kiss it. Bitty’s crying, which doesn’t surprise Dex at all. He’s also baked five pies for the occasion, and they eat them up on the roof, Chowder bugging Bitty for every bit of advice he has about being captain. Dex just tries not to think about the fact it’s gonna be him and Nursey and Chowder this time next year.

“Hey, after graduation, we’ve gotta go stargazing,” Nursey says in a low voice, kicking Dex in the foot. “Before we go to Maine.”

“Yeah, sure,” Dex says.

Graduation comes too fast, and the entirety of the Samwell Men’s Hockey team turns out to say goodbye to Bitty, and the most tadpole of the tadpoles turn up to gape, slack-jawed at Jack and Bad Bob Zimmermann. Dex thinks he hears Bad Bob saying that here he’s been assuming he got out of coming to alumni events at Samwell after Jack graduated, but no, now he has to come back for his son-in-law (« _il n’est pas mon mari_ , _papa,»_ Jack protests. « _Pas encore,_ » Bad Bob replies). They had the parties for their graduates on Cap Day and now there’s nothing to do but pack and get ready to make the drive to Maine.

And stargaze.

Nursey gives Dex directions to some field away from the city lights of Samwell – if they can be called _city_ lights – and Dex grumbles about how they should be doing this in Maine where there aren’t cities. Nursey ignores him and tosses the air mattress into the bed of the truck. Dex is still grumbling when he lies down next to Nursey and stares up at the sky. Dex is a little surprised when Nursey puts on some mellow folk type music that reminds Dex of Sunday mornings when he was very, very small for reasons he doesn’t entirely understand.

“So that one’s Orion,” Nursey says, pointing at the stars. “The three in a row there? That’s his belt. He was a hunter back in the Greek times and got fucked up by Artemis or something.”

“Sure,” Dex says. Because it’s nice to lie here in the back of the truck with Nursey’s shoulder pressed against his with mellow music playing and it feels so damn much like a date.

“Those are the Pleiades,” Nursey says, pointing at a star cluster. “Sometimes they call them the seven sisters.”

“Sure,” Dex says. “What’s the really bright one?”

“Mars,” Nursey says. “God of war.”

Dex nods and realises Nursey has his head turned sideways and is staring at Dex rather than the stars.

“What?” Dex asks.

“You’ve got all of the constellations on your face,” Nursey says, propping himself up on his elbow. He traces the tip of his finger across Dex’s cheekbone and Dex is pretty sure he stops breathing. “Cassiopeia.”

He moves his finger to Dex’s forehead, but Dex can still feel the impression of his skin on his cheek.

“Leo,” Nursey says, tracing a pattern just below Dex’s hairline, before moving to his other cheek. “Ursa major.”

Nursey’s finger drawings stop on Dex’s jaw, his thumb pressed against a slightly larger freckle.

“Which must make this Polaris,” Nursey says.

 He’s staring down at Dex, and even in the dim light, Dex can see how dark Nursey’s eyes have gotten. He can feel his own breath coming in shallow puffs, and his heart keeps fluttering in his chest. But he can’t help but breathe out half of a laugh.

“What?” Nursey asks, his lips quirking towards a smile.

“You’re such a dork,” Dex says, no longer surprised by how fond he sounds, and he pulls Nursey down. Their lips collide, and Dex just starts to feel giddy when he realises Nursey is completely frozen.

He lets go immediately, and starts to apologise but Nursey cut him off the most succinct way he possibly can – he presses his lips back to Dex’s, gently, with a certain tenderness Dex’s initial kiss had been lacking. Nursey’s lips are soft like Dex always figured they’d be, and when his tongue brushes against Dex’s bottom lip, Dex can’t help but gasp a little.

“Is this actually happening?” Nursey asks, his forehead pressed against Dex’s.

Dex’s response of, “Oh god I hope so,” earns him a grin.

They stay in the back of the truck in the distant field making out until dawn.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song Nursey's playing in the truck is the song [_The Poet Game_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J4jdu5Pi00) by Greg Brown which is more or less the anthem of my Sunday mornings as a kid and is notable not only for it's title but for the lines "well there's Orion and the Pleiades and I guess that must be Mars." 
> 
> Are there going to be more chapters? Yes! Nursey's parents are still skulking around somewhere in the background, Colin Poindexter is still skulking around somewhere in the background, and Granny has to come back. 
> 
> And as an aside, the French that Jack and Bad Bob share is "He's not my husband, dad," and "Not yet *wink wink nudge nudge*". 
> 
> As always, come cry with me on [tumblr](http://omgericzimmermann.tumblr.com).


	7. You and I Were Fire, Fireworks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title is from the Fall Out Boy song "Fourth of July" because deep in my heart it is still 2006. 
> 
> Additionally, the song Dex plays is "Go, Go, Go" by Sleeping with Sirens which may or may not have been the entire inspiration for this fic. 
> 
> Someday, we will know what Snowy's name actually is and it probably won't be Andrew Sewick but for the time being. 
> 
> And as always, thanks to my [beta](http://catsilhouette.tumblr.com).
> 
> (Warnings for: Colin Poindexter being his homophobic self)

It takes them much longer to drive to Maine than it did last summer. Nursey knows this is entirely his fault since he’s the one who can’t keep his hands to himself and he’s the one who keeps leaning across the seat, pressing his lips to Dex’s face, his neck, letting his hand trace from the inside of Dex’s knee  _ up _ , and then Dex has to pull off the freeway and park behind some fast food station so they can make out for a minute or two. By the time they’re on the other side of Portland, Nursey thinks he almost understands the mechanics of car sex, because when Dex sits sideways with his back to the door and Nursey’s got his knees on either side of Dex’s hips and Dex is very diligently sucking a hickey below the line of Nursey’s collar Nursey can very easily see how that would devolve into sex without much change in their positions.

By time they make it to Poindexterville, it’s already dark, which is saying something when it’s the end of May as far north as Maine.

“You two took your time,” Granny Poindexter scolds from the porch, her hands on her hips and her eyebrow raised.

“Hey Granny,” Dex says with an overly bright grin. Nursey hasn’t seen Dex look this happy before and he doesn’t really want to take all the credit except that he’s pretty sure it’s because of him which is more or less the best thing ever.

“Hello dear,” Granny says, hugging Dex tightly. She takes in Nursey’s probably dopey grin that’s aimed at the back of Dex’s head and her eyes narrow. She looks between them for a moment. “And you, Derek, you should know that one of the house rules excludes premarital sex within these walls.”

“Yes ma’am,” Nursey says, trying not to laugh at the exact shade of tomato that Dex has just turned.

“Wait, but--” Dex starts.

“I’m just glad you’re happy,” Granny says, cupping Dex’s face with one soft old hand. “I don’t care who it’s with, although I do quite like Derek.”

Nursey beams and hugs her.

“But how did you--” Dex splutters.

“Honestly, William, Derek has a hickey the size of Massachusetts on his neck and it’s fresh from the last six hours,” Granny scolds. “And since you texted to say you were on your way eight hours ago…”

“How can you time a hickey like that?” Dex asks, and Nursey’s a little relieved that he looks more shocked by that than Granny’s insistence she’s happy he’s – dating? Is dating what they’re doing? Because Nursey has to keep reminding himself not to drop “I realised I’m in love with you almost a year ago” into conversation since it’s only been about twenty-four hours – kissing a boy.

“Will, I had seven children and then raised six of my grandchildren,” Granny says. “I know about hickeys. In case you were unaware, teenagers are the least subtle portion of the population.”

Dex doesn’t stop blushing and Nursey’s self-control only lasts until they’re in the house before he has to press a kiss to Dex’s cheek. It’s mostly because he never wants to stop touching him if he doesn’t have to.

This turns out to be a burgeoning problem because Granny gives them both a warning look and throws a sweater at Nursey. Confused, he pulls it on, noting as he does that it covers up the hickey on his neck. It turns out to be just in time because there’s a patter of feet and three small children Nursey barely remembers from the previous summer tumble into the entryway.

“Uncle Will!” the oldest – who’s probably about five – exclaims, hugging Dex around the knees.

“Hey, Ainsley,” Dex says, looking up at Granny for some kind of explanation while Ainsley’s younger brothers also attack his legs.

Granny gives them an apologetic look as Colin walks into the entryway. Nursey is suddenly very glad for the sweater Granny has given him.

“Hey Will!” Colin says, hugging him quickly and ruffling his hair. “And Derek, good to see you again.”

He even sounds like he means it, Nursey reflects. Hell, he probably does. It’s not like he knows Nursey’s entire intention for the summer is to spend as much of his time as possible touching Colin’s little brother inappropriately.

“Granny, thanks so much,” Colin says. “The job’s just for a week, and I’m just going to be in St Andrew, so I’m only two hours away, so really, thank you.”

“What’s going on?” Dex asks.

“Daddy’s going to Canadia,” Ainsley informs them. “But we don’t have passports.”

Nursey tries not to find it endearing that she can’t say Canada but she can say passport - he definitely fails.

“And Stephanie wasn’t going to take them?” Dex asks.

Colin’s eyes darken and for about the second time, Nursey sees the temper that Dex had mentioned last summer.

“I’ve got summers, and she doesn’t need to know I’ve got a job in Canada for the week,” Colin says. There’s a thinly veiled threat in his voice and Nursey feels compelled to grab Dex and pull him away, or to just plant himself firmly between Dex and Colin, even though he and Dex are the same size and they’re both much bigger than Colin.

“Yeah, sure,” Dex agrees, backing down.

“Are you sure you want to drive tonight, dear?” Granny asks. “It’s already late.”

“Yeah,” Colin says, brightening up again. “I’ve got to be on the site at six tomorrow morning, so it’s easier if I go now.”

His kids wish him goodbye and then he’s gone, leaving the three little people staring up at Dex, Nursey, and Granny with hopeful eyes. Ainsley has amber eyes like Dex and Assumpta and Granny, Nursey realises.

“Can we watch  _ Bambi _ ?” one of her brothers pipes up.

“No, it’s time for bed,” Granny insists. “Come on, all of you.”

She leads the three of them up the stairs and they wave goodbye to Dex and Nursey.

“We should probably go to bed too,” Nursey points out. “We didn’t exactly get a lot of sleep last night.”

“No, we didn’t,” Dex agrees, unable to fight the grin that spreads across his face. Nursey smiles back when Dex cups his face and kisses him. He’s only a little aware that they’re moving backwards until his back hits a wall and some pictures rattle. He’s worked his hands under the hem of Dex’s shirt by that point, unable to stop himself from running his thumbs across the soft skin that covers Dex’s hipbones, unaware that they keep slipping under the waistband of Dex’s jeans until Dex breaks off from the kiss with a quiet groan and rests his forehead against Nursey’s.

“I can’t have sex with you in my grandma’s house,” he says.

“Okay,” Nursey agrees, trying not to blush. He’s better at controlling that than Dex is.

“And I really can’t make out with you in my brother’s bed,” Dex says, kissing him again. Their lips stick together for a second and Nursey’s figured out that the best way to combat that problem is with his tongue, but Dex pulls back. He tries not to pout. “And I don’t think you have any intention of being on my bunk since it’s up high.”

“Because you’re always on top,” Nursey mumbles, which he realises has recently taken on a whole new context.

“Jesus,” Dex murmurs, letting his head fall forward so it bumps against the wall next to Nursey’s ear. To Nursey’s delight, Dex takes the opportunity to press his lips against the hinge between his neck and jaw and suck.

“Dex,” Nursey breathes. He wonders if he should’ve figured it out sooner, his whole thing about having marks on his skin. After all, he’s got eight tattoos.

“Am I going to have to throw you both in the harbour?”

Granny’s voice kills any atmosphere that had been developing in the stairwell – which Nursey realises is where they’ve moved to, somehow. 

They spring apart like she’s thrown cold water on them and look guilty.

“Derek, should I be putting you in Jamie and Colin’s room?” Granny asks, her eyebrow raised.

Nursey shudders involuntarily at the thought of being near Colin’s childhood bedroom.

“Granny, you should know that not a single one of the six of us have  _ ever _ violated the no pre-marital sex in the house rule,” Dex says.

“None of you have ever had your significant others stay over before,” Granny says. Nursey tries not to grin at the idea he’s Dex’s significant other, but he fails so he hides it in the collar of his borrowed sweater.

“Remember Assumpta’s best friend in high school Jessica?” Dex asks. Granny nods. “She and Iain dated for four years.”

Granny considers this new information with narrowed eyes.

“Also I’m a human furnace and I’ll die of heatstroke if Dex and I share a bed, so really, nothing to worry about,” Nursey says.

“Dex?” Granny asks.

“Will,” Nursey corrects. He forgot. 

Granny still looks suspicious but lets them go upstairs and to sleep.

At least, Nursey thinks as he falls asleep on Iain’s bed listening to Dex breathe, he can absolutely guarantee no one has ever had sex on this bed.

* * *

In the morning he has to stop himself from following Dex to the bathroom so they can brush their teeth together. He takes a deep breath and gives Dex a quick smile as they pass in the hallway before barricading himself in the bathroom and using the remainder of his willpower to keep from hitting his head against the mirror repeatedly in the hope of knocking some sense into himself. They’ve been together for two days max, they’ve done nothing more than make out, and his sorry ass is already trying to skip straight from the honeymoon period to “married for fifteen years and still stupidly happy”.

He brushes his teeth and pees and splashes some cold water on his face before venturing downstairs. He finds Dex leaning against the kitchen table with a cup of coffee low-key watching over the back of the couch while his niece and nephews watch  _ Bambi _ . Nursey doesn’t ask him what he thinks about kids because he seriously needs to hit the brakes. Like now.

That, or find a secluded corner of Poindexterville and fuck Dex senseless.

“Morning,” Dex says, handing him a cup of coffee. Nursey accepts it and kisses Dex on the corner of the mouth. He thinks he might die of an over-abundance of heart-eyes when Dex grins bashfully and blushes, his head tipped down so he’s looking at his bare feet.

“Hey,” Nursey says, drinking his own coffee. On the screen in the next room, Bambi is sliding helplessly on the ice. “Did you ever skate like that?”

“Me? Hell no,” Dex says. On anyone else, Nursey might think it was bravado, but Dex seems too genuine about it. “They stuck me in skates when I was like, two. Pretty sure I could skate before I could walk.”

Nursey smiles at the thought of a tiny toddler Dex sliding around on the ice, probably a frozen pond, somewhere nearby.

“Oh yeah?” Nursey asks.

“My dad played hockey in high school,” Dex explains. “I’m the only one who picked it up, though.”

“I mean, Assumpta’s totally picked up something hockey-related,” Nursey points out.

When Dex snorts, Nursey realises this is the first time Dex has ever mentioned his parents except to explain that they died when he was four.

“That song you were playing in the truck the other night,” Dex says. “What was it?”

“Uh, it was Greg Brown,” Nursey says. “It’s called  _ Poet Game _ . Why?”

“I think it’s something my dad used to listen to,” Dex says.

“Oh,” Nursey says, pressing another kiss to Dex’s cheek. Then his jaw, the corner of his mouth, and without warning Dex is sitting on the table, his legs hooked around the back of Nursey’s, pulling him in close and Nursey’s got his tongue in Dex’s mouth and he tastes just like coffee and a hint of peppermint toothpaste and it shouldn’t be doing  _ things _ to Nursey but it totally is until he gets smacked in the back of the head with something that feels like an oven mitt.

“Sorry!” they both exclaim, springing apart, and Nursey realises Dex got swatted too.

“How long has this been going on?” Granny demands. “You’re acting like you’ve just kissed for the first time.”

“About thirty-six hours,” Dex says.

Granny’s eyes narrow and Nursey is less surprised than he should be when she levels this look at him.

“I told you last summer, young man, I asked you to try and make him happy, and you’ve only been seeing each other for a day and a half?” Granny asks.

“Wait,  _ what? _ ” Dex asks, looking between them in complete bafflement.

“I’ll explain later,” Nursey promises.

“You can go explain now because you’re both banned from the house until you can be in public places without groping each other,” Granny scolds, shooing them out of the kitchen and towards Dex’s truck. “Before you scandalise an old lady.”

“Granny, you had seven kids,” Dex points out, and Nursey spits out his coffee.

“Shoo,” Granny says, swatting Dex in the arm. He snickers and gets in the cab of the truck, Nursey following suit.

They don’t talk about it but Nursey isn’t surprised when they end up at Fitzsimmons Farms. Dex parks near a gnarly old crabapple tree and turns the engine off. They sip their coffee in silence and Nursey wonders if it’s a small town thing to just take coffee in normal mugs rather than using a tumbler.

“So, like, as much as I’d like to just touch you, we should probably talk, right?” Dex asks.

It takes Nursey a second to get past Dex’s statement of wanting to touch him but when he finally gets to the end of the sentence, he figures Dex is probably right.

“I really, really like you,” Nursey says. “Which is probably obvious.”

“Is it? Because I’ve spent the better part of a year thinking I had an unrequited crush on my best friend,” Dex says. He addresses the coffee mug in his hand instead of Nursey.

“That’s funny, so did I,” Nursey says. “And I don’t know why you thought it was unrequited. You’re the one who actually dated someone else.”

“You were the one flirting with my  _ sister _ ,” Dex points out.

“I never flirted with her! She flirted with me!” Nursey insists. “ I was pissed at you for giving her my number because I thought that meant you didn’t like me!”

“I thought you didn’t like me,” Dex says.

Nursey sighs and they take synchronous sips of their coffee.

“We’re both stupid, right?” Dex asks.

“Yeah,” Nursey agrees.

“So are we, like, dating now?” Dex asks.

“Do you want to be?” Nursey asks. He wonders briefly at the fact they’re both too new at this relationship – can he even call it a relationship? Maybe inasmuch as every connection with another person is some form of relationship – to put their cards on the table. So he sighs. “Actually, no, I don’t want to ‘date’ or be in that weird nebulous ‘yeah we’re hooking up but it’s totally casual’ thing?”

“What do you want us to be then?” Dex asks, and he looks vulnerable. Adorably vulnerable, honestly.

“Boyfriends,” Nursey says. “If that’s okay?”

Dex grins and puts his coffee back in the cup holder. Nursey mimics him.

“Yeah, that’s okay,” Dex agrees, pulling Nursey closer and kissing him. Before Nursey really knows what’s happening, Dex’s hands are in his hair, and Nursey’s managed to work both his hands under Dex’s shirt, running his fingers along the ridges of Dex’s ribs and the outlines of his muscles. He tries not to be overly enthusiastic about the fact his touch seems to be giving Dex gooseflesh but it makes him very happy to know. He’s also pretty enthusiastic about it when Dex shifts and suddenly they’re lying on the bench – a little squished because they’re not small people – but Dex’s thigh is between his legs and he’s sucking another hickey onto Nursey’s neck and Nursey’s having a difficult time stopping himself from grinding against Dex’s leg and –

“Okay, you’ve got to stop,” Nursey says, pushing on Dex’s shoulders and trying to breathe.

“Sorry!” Dex says, springing to the other side of the cab. “I didn’t mean to cross boundaries or anything, oh God Shitty’s gonna yell at me and--”

“No! You didn’t do anything!” Nursey insists. He wants to pet Dex’s hair and reassure him but at this point, he’s pretty sure even a gentle finger brush would mean a happy ending, which is more than they need at that moment.

“Then why…” Dex asks, looking confused. It’s adorable, Nursey realises. Dex is pretty confused most of the time, as far as he can tell – nothing like Tango – but he’s got different expressions for it. There’s the “how are you a real person” confusion that he usually reserves for Nursey and Tango, there’s general “I don’t understand what’s happening” and there’s his “concerned confusion” which was the expression he usually wore when he came across Ransom curled up under desks and is the expression he’s currently aiming at Nursey.

“Because I was about to cum in my pants like I’m fourteen,” Nursey explains.

“Sorry about that,” Dex says, scratching the back of his neck. This has the nice added bonus of highlighting Dex’s bicep and paired with the barely suppressed smirk and flush, it’s generally a damn good look on him.

“No you’re not,” Nursey says.

“Not really, no,” Dex agrees. Nursey rolls his eyes, with lots of affection and no malice, but he still catches the way Dex’s eyes flick towards his crotch. Nursey becomes even more aware that he’s still wearing his SMH sweatpants rather than anything resembling normal everyday clothing. “Um, do you want me to, uh, help?”

Most of Nursey’s brain starts screaming that yes, he absolutely wants that  _ right now _ , but the more reasonable fraction can’t help but point out that he hasn’t really showered since yesterday morning.

Dex’s response is only to shrug and grin a little wolfishly.

* * *

 

By the time they get back to the house, they both have to shower and Granny thankfully says nothing about it. They join her and Colin’s kids for lunch and Nursey finds himself explaining the benefit of apricot jam to Ainsley while she nods seriously and keeps eating her grape jelly and peanut butter sandwich. It’s because Nursey’s not really paying attention that he finds himself suddenly volunteered – along with Dex – to take Ainsley to the local skating rink the next day so they can teach her how to ice skate (“Like Bambi!” Ainsley trills).

For Dex, this is apparently normal, but for Nursey, it’s the ice Dex first played on when he was a kid and there’s something so touchingly sentimental about it that Nursey is content to just lean against the boards and just watch while Dex skates backwards, pulling Ainsley along.

This becomes their daily activity for the week Colin’s in New Brunswick, and Nursey can’t find it in himself to be overly annoyed because it’s really damn sweet to see. Ainsley even takes to him, pulling on his hand and making him show her how to do a hockey stop even though they’ve put her in figure skates. Nursey doesn’t even care that it’s a total cockblock (which he’s sure Granny did intentionally) because it’s so much fun.

He’s actually a little sad when Colin comes back and collects his kids before disappearing back to wherever it is they live. Nursey doesn’t ask and Dex doesn’t tell.

Then it’s June and he and Dex are conscripted back to the hardware store. Quinn/Jim decides he’s not going to give up on Nursey and if it’s the last thing he does, he’s going to make sure Nursey at least knows how to change a goddamn lightbulb. So Nursey is a little confused when the very next day – as he’s restocking shelves – Quinn/Jim asks him what he’s doing and then sends him off to Dex’s repair room so he can figure out how to successfully fix a garbage disposal.

“It’s just weird,” Nursey says. “Because he wanted me to do something so basic like change a lightbulb yesterday but today he’s all ‘go Derek, learn how to fix a garbage disposal’!”

“Would you hand me that screwdriver?” Dex requests. Nursey hands it over. “Was it Quinn or Jim who wanted you to learn?”

Nursey frowns at him. “What do you mean Quinn  _ or _ Jim?”

Dex looks up from the disposal and stares at him blankly. “You – you do know there are  _ two _ of them, right? You know there’s Quinn Poindexter and Jim Poindexter, and they are twins and run the hardware and repair shop?”

Suddenly so much of the previous summer makes sense and Nursey feels like an idiot. Dex bursts out laughing and stands from the chair to kiss him. Nursey grumbles and crosses his arms, looking away petulantly while Dex keeps snickering.

“Come on babe, don’t be like that,” Dex says, which does effectively make Nursey stop glowering into the middle distance. Nursey kisses him properly, and he realises this is the first time they’ve been alone outside of Granny’s house since the first day they got there, and surreptitiously leans over and locks the door to the repair room.

Nursey’s not entirely sure he’s in control of his actions when he turns Dex around so that Dex is the one pressed against the table and Nursey’s the one pinning him there. He’s even less sure when he unbuttons Dex’s jeans.

“Is this okay?” he asks, his lips brushing against Dex’s ear.

“Yeah,” Dex breathes. Nursey can feel his pulse thrumming under his lips while he kisses down his neck and Dex’s grip on the edge of the table gets markedly tighter when Nursey drops to his knees.

* * *

 

Honestly, Nursey’s a little concerned when things don’t get any less intense as June goes on. He can’t keep his hands off Dex, and Dex can’t keep his off Nursey either. The only time it slows down is when the playoffs start.

The Falcs got knocked out in the finals for the Eastern Conference, so Snowy and Assumpta turn up at the house in Poindexterville to watch the final. Granny is instantly smitten with Snowy, which Nursey finds pretty funny, and she happily provides them with sandwiches as the four of them crowd the couch and watch the games. The Schooners won the Western Conference – just barely beating out the Aces – and they’re playing hard like they’ve got something to prove. They do, Nursey realises belatedly.

The Schooners beat the Rangers in game six at home at Boeing Arena and it’s the first time Nursey has ever seen Snowy look excited about something. It’s the next day – after Holster spends all of the day after the finals texting the group chat with pictures of him licking the cup (“You realise Jack has pooped in that. Twice,” Shitty texts back. “That was literally twenty-five years ago and a lot more sketchy shit has happened to it since,” Jack points out.) that Bitty tweets them all the ESPN article titled “What Happened to Hockey?”

_ The fact that the NHL started the  _ You Can Play _ movement became very apparent right around the beginning of the New Year when Jack Zimmermann (#1 – forward for the Providence Falconers) came out on Twitter by posting a picture of himself kissing his boyfriend, Eric Bittle. Zimmermann’s coming out was followed immediately by backlash from former ESPN commentator Dick Butterfield, who was soundly trounced by Vegas Aces Captain Kent Parson. Zimmermann and Parson played together in the QMJHL on the Rimouski-Oceanic team, and their joint coming out prompted a lot of speculation about that time. _

_ “We played very good hockey,” Zimmermann said when asked. _

_ “Yeah, the, uh, hockey, was awesome,” Parson replied when faced with Zimmermann’s quote which did nothing to lessen the speculation. _

_ Shortly after Parson’s tweet about his sexuality, Seattle Schooners rookie defenseman Adam Birkholtz (#4 ) tweeted yet another picture of himself kissing a man later identified as his boyfriend and former Samwell University teammate Justin Oluransi. Birkholtz’s tweet was followed by “45% of [their] team” coming out as various non-heterosexual identities. It was therefore a shock to the commentators who decried the competent athleticism of non-straight men when the Schooners lifted their first Stanley Cup yesterday. _

_ The wave of LGBTQ+ identified and highly competent hockey players did not restrict itself to the NHL however. This year’s NCAA champions – the Samwell University men’s hockey team – were captained to their title by Eric Bittle (#15) who was mentioned earlier as being Jack Zimmermann’s boyfriend. _

_ It seems all the recent coming outs go back to Zimmermann and Samwell University – which is known as having the most LGBTQ+ friendly campus in the United States. Zimmermann was three year captain of the Samwell team, followed by Birkholtz (who co-captained with Oluransi) and then by Bittle. So the question we have to ask – is Samwell University turning hockey players gay? _

Nursey closes the article and frowns at it, giving Dex a perturbed look.

“I mean, I guess he’s kind of got a point?” Dex offers. “Does – does anyone on our team identify as straight?”

“I honestly couldn’t say,” Nursey replies. He pops open the group chat and tries to ignore the picture of Holster’s tongue.

==SMH Group Text ==

**Me:** hey, so weird question, but do literally any of us identify as straight?

**Bits:** you read the ESPN article

**Me:** well yeah

**Sharkboy:** I don’t think so!!!

**Giggles:** not to the best of my knowledge. But I don’t know the tadpoles so

**Shits:** I mean, no?

**Ranster:** I pretended I was straight for a while

**Ranster:** but like I think you can only lie to yourself for so long when you spend most nights with another dude’s mouth on your dick

**Ginger Rogers:** why was that necessary information

**Ranster:** I was transcribing for Holster since he’s not capable of typing right now

**Pieces:** …

**Ranster:** HE’S SUPER HUNGOVER NOT GROPING ME JESUS WE DON’T ACTUALLY TEXT YOU GUYS WHILE WE’RE HAVING SEX

**Bits:** …

**Ranster:** *we don’t /usually/ text you guys while we’re having sex

**Giggles:** that just – Holster I hope your captain fines you for that

==

* * *

Assumpta and Snowy end up sticking around until the Fourth of July. Dex and Nursey are released from their conscription at the hardware store in order to help Assumpta show Snowy around Poindexterville – Nursey doesn’t laugh at him when he seems overly perturbed by the fact they all have to go to mass together because he’s been there – and the four of them take to staying up late in the kitchen drinking.

“Hey, so a while ago, Bitty said you ran into Jack in the mall in Providence,” Dex says the night before the rest of the Poindexters are set to arrive. “But apparently Jack wouldn’t tell him what he was doing at the mall in the first place.”

“Oh,” Assumpta says, grinning wickedly in a way that makes her look just like Dex. It’s the smile Dex uses when he’s about to chirp an opponent so badly they’ll need to immediately apply ice to the burn. “Well,  _ I  _ was at the Sephora picking up eyeliner, and I’m not saying I saw Jack Zimmermann coming out of Tiffany & Co. except that I totally saw Jack Zimmermann coming out of Tiffany & Co.”

Dex frowns while Nursey feels a second-hand swooping sensation in his stomach. There are very few reasons for Jack to have been in a jewellery store.

“What’s Tiffany & Co.?” Dex asks.

“It’s a jewellery shop, Dex,” Assumpta scolds, rolling her eyes, but looking affectionate. It’s the first time Nursey’s heard her call him Dex, and he has to wonder if it’s a little strange for her since her nickname could just as easily be Dex.

“Why was Jack in a jewellery store?” Dex asks.

Nursey and Assumpta frown at him, and Snowy taps his Stanley Cup ring from the year before on the table.

“You think Jack was ring shopping?” Dex asks, his eyes going wide.

“I think Tater’s been threatening to steal Bitty from him since he found out Zimmboni’s boyfriend makes the best pie,” Snowy says.

Assumpta snorts and Dex laughs and Nursey can see this being the rest of his life pretty easily.

For the Fourth of July, Dex drives the two of them back out to the hill where they’d spent the previous year’s fireworks show. They get the tent set up in the bed of the truck and the air mattress and lie back on it to watch the fireworks explode.

“So what song makes you think of me?” Nursey asks.

“What?” Dex asks, raising his eyebrow. They’re not touching beyond holding hands, but Nursey can feel the electricity between their just barely brushing shoulders anyway. It’s painfully clear to him that they’re in the middle of goddamn nowhere, they’re not in Granny’s house, and they’re in a bed.

“What song?” Nursey repeats, rolling onto his side and staring at Dex. It would be his absolute favourite pastime if it didn’t prevent him from doing other things.

“Ugh,” Dex replies, grabbing his phone and scrolling through it. “Don’t judge me.”

It’s more upbeat than any of the other music Nursey’s heard Dex listen to, and the opening line is “We always seem to find a way to fuck things up at the worst time, you know we’ve never been the smartest. You know you could have anyone but standing on the edge I thought, I don’t want no one else.”

Nursey is about to chirp him into next century, but the chorus is the line “go, go, go I don’t want to take it slow” and Nursey can’t stop grinning.

“I can feel you judging me,” Dex scolds.

“I’m not judging,” Nursey promises, kissing Dex on the cheek. “And I’m having serious trouble taking it slow anyway.”

“Yeah?” Dex asks. He sounds a little breathless which is when Nursey realises Dex has also taken into account the fact they’re in the middle of nowhere and there’s a bed.

In response, Nursey grabs the bottle of lube and box of condoms he’d snuck into his bag. Dex flushes and takes them.

“How do you want to do this?” he asks while Nursey starts pushing Dex’s shirt up over his head.

“I’m pretty sure we already established that,” Nursey says, kissing the freckles on Dex’s chest and down across his abs.

“Did we?” Dex asks, and Nursey doesn’t quite understand why Dex sounds a little nervous because it’s not like Dex is a virgin.

“You’re always on top,” Nursey mumbles, and Dex’s eyes darken in the best way.

The fireworks are still going off half an hour later after Dex has turned Nursey into a whimpering mess. Nursey refuses to let go of him, and would be perfectly content to lie there without the sleeping bags over them, letting the cool ocean breeze dry the sweat on his skin, but Dex, being Dex, is obviously cold.

Nursey pulls the sleeping bags over them – they zip together, he’s discovered, and turn into one massive sleeping bag – before going right back to holding Dex closely. He doesn’t even care if Dex is a cuddler at this point (although he’s pretty sure that Will “the Octopus” Poindexter is down with cuddling) because he’s not letting go. He’s delighted when Dex won’t stop touching him, even if it’s just little things. One of Dex’s hands is tangled firmly in Nursey’s hair, the other tracing the edges of the tattoo on his bicep.

“I just realised something,” Dex says, brushing his nose against Nursey’s.

“Hmm,” Nursey says. It’s supposed to be a question encouraging Dex to go on, but he doesn’t fully have the energy to articulate properly.

“Last summer, you gave me so much shit for losing my virginity in a car but you never actually said where you lost yours,” Dex says.

And there’s Nursey’s energy – right back with a spike of adrenaline. He opens his eyes with a start.

“Oh, uh, I didn’t?” he asks.

He can feel Dex’s pulse under his hand where it’s pressed against his back. Dex’s pulse is slow and steady. Nursey’s infinitely jealous because his chill has just vanished.

“Nope,” Dex says, brushing his lips against Nursey’s skin. Nursey is suddenly very glad it’s dark and Dex can’t see the fact Nursey is blushing brighter than he ever does. “So? Where was it?”

“I mean, it depends on how you define losing your virginity, right?” Nursey says. He doesn’t mean to evade the question by going off into a Shitty-Approved ramble, especially since the answer is effectively the same in either case. “Like do you lose your virginity when you first orgasm because of someone else, or is it strictly a penetrative thing or like--”

“Are you avoiding the question?” Dex asks, sounding baffled.

“No?” Nursey offers. He sounds entirely unconvincing even to himself.

“Derek,” Dex scolds.

“I lost my virginity in a car,” Nursey mumbles.

“Seriously? After all the shit you gave me last summer, you lost--”

Nursey can hear it in Dex’s voice when he figures it out.

“Wait, really?” he asks, now quiet. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I’m 21,” Nursey mumbles. “And I’m me, and I didn’t think you’d believe me.”

“Derek,” Dex says. He sounds a little hurt, Nursey notes.

“Because that’s what stupid parentless rich kids do, right? We have casual sex and drink and do drugs and fuck up our lives so our dads can bail us out with a lot of hand-waving in the law’s face,” Nursey says. He doesn’t mean to keep talking, but he does. “And then you add the fact I’m pan and so everyone assumes that just because I’ve got the potential to be attracted to everyone I  _ am _ attracted to everyone, and so no one really believes you if you point out that yeah, sure, some people are pretty but then they say stupid shit and I’d rather not have sex with someone who’s an asshole.”

Dex is silent for a while, although his hand doesn’t stop tracing the outlines of Nursey’s tattoo.

“Am I allowed to be happy that I had the privilege of being your first?” Dex asks.

Nursey snorts and just barely stops himself from saying he’d be pretty okay with it if Dex was his only.

“Well, sure, but you’ve got to put your money where your mouth is and fuck me again,” Nursey says.

“I think I can do that,” Dex says, grinning into the kiss he plants on Nursey’s lips.

* * *

They wake up to all of the typical Fourth of July texts from their friends, and they share a laugh at the idea of sending back a Happy Fourth message that’s a selfie of them curled up together very clearly not wearing shirts while Nursey’s neck and upper chest is mottled with hickeys. Nursey cackles when Dex actually sends the picture.

Their phones start blowing up immediately but Nursey is more than happy to silence them and ignore until he gets a text from Assumpta.

==Assumpta==

**Assumpta:** hey Colin etc. showed up already

**Assumpta:** hide your hickeys boys

**Ginger Rogers:** are you hiding yours?

**Assumpta:** mostly trying to keep Snowy out of the conversation so that Colin doesn’t start asking him about Jack and so that Snowy doesn’t mention he’s nominating Jack for the C

**Me:** did you hide him somewhere?

**Assumpta:** Ainsley’s talking to him about hockey

**Assumpta:** apparently she likes ice skating now?

**Ginger Rogers:** that’s our fault

**Me:** :) 

==

“We should probably make sure Colin can’t see your hickeys,” Dex mumbles, tracing the marks on Nursey’s throat.

“You know what I don’t understand?” Nursey asks, pulling on his shirt and discovering the sweater Granny had given him for Christmas. He pulls it on and is devoutly thankful they’re in Maine rather than anywhere farther south so that he doesn’t have to die of heatstroke.

“What?” Dex asks.

“You’re the totally pale one, why don’t you bruise?” Nursey asks.

“Maybe you don’t suck hard enough,” Dex suggests.

“Don’t say that, I’ll take it as a challenge and we have to go have brunch with your asshat older brother,” Nursey reminds him.

Dex grumbles and looks disappointed, but they clean up the back of the truck and climb into the cab, sharing the thermos of coffee Granny had given them.

“Who would’ve thought this time last year we’d be here?” Dex asks before starting the car.

“I dunno,” Nursey says, taking another sip of the coffee. “It was a year ago today I figured out I’m in love with you, so – oh, oh my god can we please pretend I didn’t just say that?”

He knows it’s futile because Dex is staring at him with a slack jaw and big eyes.

“No,” he says. “No we cannot. You love me?”

“I’m – yeah,” Nursey mumbles. “I wouldn’t have had sex with you if I didn’t--”

He’s cut off by Dex kissing him fiercely and whispering that he loves him too against his lips and Nursey’s pretty sure it’s the best day of his life.

It gets a little worse when they get back to Granny’s house because the sweater doesn’t quite cover one of his hickeys and Colin definitely notices it when they walk in the door.

“Hey!” Assumpta enthuses, pre-empting Colin and hugging both of them. “Enjoy the fireworks?”

“Yeah,” Dex agrees, smiling at the rest of his family. The rest of his siblings greet them and Nursey only notices that the kids are there when Ainsley starts tugging on his hand because she’s decided she’s going to be Elsa even though she’s got red hair like Anna and she’s going to be the queen of the ice and Daddy said she got to take figure skating lessons once they get home and –

“What happened to your neck, Derek?” Colin asks, tapping the spot between his jaw and neck. Nursey brings his hand up to the same place on his own neck. He knows there’s a hickey there, but to his relief, this one has a proper cover story.

“Oh, I hit myself in the neck with a wrench at work,” he says. And it’s entirely true. “I’ve never seen Quinn – was it Quinn or Jim?”

“You still can’t tell them apart?” Dex asks, giving him the “how are you a real person” look.

“I’ve only known there were two of them for like a week,  give me a break,” Nursey protests. “Anyway. Whichever it was looked so disappointed that they’ve stopped trying to teach me how to fix things now.”

Colin laughs and claps him on the shoulder and heads back to the living room, oblivious to the sighs of relief that have just gone through Dex, Nursey, Assumpta, and Granny.

They barely keep Snowy from killing Colin at dinner that night, and Nursey finds it very challenging not to help him. Because it turns out Colin’s seen the ESPN article about Samwell and he won’t shut up about how glad he is that all of the openly gay men on their team have graduated so that they can’t prey on his baby brother.

It’s when Nursey can see the cutlery bending in Snowy’s hand that he drags him to the kitchen on the pretext of getting the other bowls of potato salad and coleslaw.

“How the fuck do you stand that?” Snowy hisses.

“I’ve still got the scars on my palm from digging my fingernails into it last summer,” Nursey says, showing him the eight matching white sickles on the heels of his hands.

“I just – I want to break him,” Snowy grumbles.

“Yeah me too,” Nursey says. “But I’ve got dibs, remember?”

Snowy’s jaw clenches.

“You’re not really straight are you,” Nursey guesses.

“Hell no,” Snowy says.

Nursey nods, claps him on the shoulder, and they return to the dining room with the potato salad and coleslaw. Fortunately, conversation has moved on to other things, namely Colin badgering Dex about what he’s going to do once he’s graduated. Unsurprisingly, Colin approves of Assumpta’s life choice to become a hockey wife, even if she and Snowy aren’t married or engaged.

Nursey, on the pretext of having good manners and not resting his elbow on the table, drops his right hand under the table and squeezes Dex’s knee to try and keep him from blowing a fuse in Colin’s direction. He’s pretty sure they’re not quite into the “You’re not my father!” screaming match territory, but they’re close.

“I don’t know, probably be an engineer?” Dex offers. “Since I’m getting an engineering degree?”

“What about you Derek? You’re an English major, right?” Colin asks.

“Yep,” Nursey says. “Yeah. I’m probably going to be a writer. At least that’s the goal.”

“Oh,” Colin says. “I’d say you should be working with your hands, but considering the whole…”

He taps the side of his neck with his fork to remind Nursey of the fact he’s got a bruise from a wrench there.

“Yeah, I’d be pretty bad at that,” Nursey says with an awkward laugh.

“And you don’t want to go pro like Drew?” Colin asks.

It takes Nursey the full count of five to figure out he’s talking about Snowy.

“Oh, yeah, I mean I’m good but I’m not that good,” Nursey says. “I mean, Will’s the one who won us the championship.”

“That was because we had a good team,” Dex says. “Because Eric was a good captain.”

And Colin’s face darkens. Nursey feels the panic start to well up in his stomach.

“That was a fluke,” Colin says. “You played very well, but the queers just aren’t good at sports.”

“I don’t know, Colin,” Jamie says from the other end of the table, drinking deeply from his glass of wine. “The Schooners did win the Stanley and they’re pretty much all gay.”

Then, to Nursey’s shock, the conversation becomes Colin and Jamie bickering across the table while he and Dex are forgotten. He’s relieved about that because their relationship is a little too new still for him to be the reason Dex breaks up with his family.

But he’s pretty sure that’s where they’re headed. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, there is nothing wrong with being a virgin at 21, just FYI. 
> 
> Secondly, some notes on the family Poindexter:  
> \- Colin, the oldest, born probably 1985, an asshat as previously established; married and then divorced his high school sweetheart Stephanie. Owns a contracting business and did not go to college (which is a sore spot).  
> \- Jamie, second oldest, 1988: is both a wine mom and a vodka aunt, lives in Quebec and doesn't tell anyone what he does for a living (he's a bartender in a cabaret show) and had to share a room with Colin growing up. Probably ace, has a history degree.  
> \- Siobhan, oldest girl, 1990: probably just as much of an asshat as Colin, life goals include getting married and having children.  
> \- Iain, 1992: he was a LAX bro at his university. That's all that needs to be said.  
> \- Assumpta, early January 1995: attended Emerson College in Boston on a Track and Field scholarship (runs the Steeple Chase). Definitely would never have hit on Nursey if she knew Dex was into him. Is not entirely enlightened about LGBTQ+ issues but she is Trying.  
> \- Dex, mid-December 1995: has the hots for Derek Nurse. Obvs. 
> 
> Come cry with me on [tumblr.](http://omgericzimmermann.tumblr.com)


	8. The Hockey Gays

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Actual warnings for very explicitly neglectful parenting. If this is triggering for you, you probably don't want to read this chapter, and you should feel free to come grab a summary from me on Tumblr (but preferably off anon so I can reply privately) 
> 
> And as always thanks so much to my [beta.](http://catsilhouette.tumblr.com)

Dex is pretty sure he can mark it down as the best summer on record, even if Granny nearly throws them out in exasperation more than seven times. He’s just as happy when they get back to Samwell because a) they can totally have sex in the Haus and b) they can share a bed without Granny throwing a fit.

Snowy and Assumpta had been unceremoniously given the boot due to their sleeping habits and told to stay at a B&B the next time they came to visit if they couldn’t shape up their act, which Dex found hilarious and Assumpta did not. Nursey commiserated with Snowy about their shared hate of Colin, and the restrictions about premarital sex being a no-go at the Poindexter family home, which made Dex and Assumpta laugh at them.

When they get back to the Haus, they’re the last ones there. Chowder and two thirds of WTF have beat them and are sitting on the grass of the front lawn bemoaning the lack of Bitty’s pie, as well as the ESPN article.

“I mean, now every straight guy on the team is freaking out,” Whiskey says as Dex parks the truck and they get out. “They’re all panicking about how they’re never gonna be able to pick up girls because ESPN said that our hockey team turns people gay.”

“Bruh, it’s Samwell,” Nursey says, flopping onto the grass next to them. “All they have to say is, ‘yeah, I mean sure I’m straight, but I’m definitely an ally’ and people will totes go for that.”

“Well, that’s good,” Chowder says. “And besides, I know the captain of the volleyball team, so I can definitely help get them girlfriends if they want.”

“You _know_ the captain of the volleyball team?” Dex asks with a smile. Even four years later, Chowder is just as impeccably cute.

“Knows her intimately,” Nursey adds, dragging Dex down to the grass with him. Dex goes without protests and leans against his chest. It’s pleasant and comfortable because Nursey’s muscles are softer than his own.

“Hell, he’s probably even seen her naked,” Dex says thoughtfully.

“Guys,” Chowder protests, and he’s blushing and Dex can’t help but laugh.

“You have had sex with her right?” Tango asks. He sounds genuinely confused, Dex realises. Of course, Tango usually sounds confused.

“Well yeah, but,” Chowder says, still avoiding their eyes.

“But C’s more of a sweetheart in a ‘what happens behind closed doors stays behind closed doors’ type of way,” Nursey says, pressing a kiss to Dex’s neck. “He doesn’t kiss and tell.”

Dex laughs and twists around so he can kiss Nursey properly.

“Oh no are we going to keep finding you guys banging in the kitchen?” Whiskey asks, raising his eyebrow at Dex and Nursey.

“Nah, come on, we’ll keep it in the attic,” Nursey says. “Maybe the shower.”

“I mean if you guys are gone,” Dex adds with a shrug. “And it’s not like you two aren’t dating anyway.”

“I – yeah, that’s fair,” Tango says.

“We’ll try to limit our sexcapades to the LAX house,” Whiskey offers.

“Did you actually unironically use ‘sexcapade’ in a sentence?” Nursey asks.

“Does that hurt your sensibilities as a writer?” Dex asks, grinning at him.

“It hurts my sensibilities as a person,” Nursey replies.

Thinking back over the now three years he’s known Nursey, Dex is a little shocked at how chill Nursey’s been about sex. No one could ever say anything that would scandalise him or make him blush, and Dex knows he was definitely never that chill about sex when he was a virgin. There was even the time Nursey danced on a table at a party – a moment that was definitely about to turn into a striptease had Bitty not intervened – and Dex still has dreams about that. He’s infinitely glad that they’ve reached a point where all he has to do is raise his eyebrows a certain way and Nursey starts taking off his clothes.

“But what are we going to do without Bitty’s pies?” Tango asks finally. “Like can we go down to Providence often enough to get them?”

“He’d probably mail them if we asked,” Nursey points out. Dex nods in agreement, trying not to think too hard about the fact Nursey’s propping himself up on one hand and the other is resting on Dex’s thigh.  “And Will was his go-to sous-chef. Maybe he can get Bitty’s recipes.”

“I’m not that good,” Dex protests.

“Did you just call him Will?” Chowder asks.

“Oh, oops,” Nursey says. Dex snorts and tries not to actually laugh about it. It started the first night they had sex – the whole calling each other by their first names thing. “Habit.”

They all lay out on the front lawn for a while longer, until Foxtrot waves from the LAX house and Whiskey and Tango go off to join him, and C gets a text from Farmer summoning him to the volleyball house down the street. Dex and Nursey carry their bags up the stairs to the attic and Dex looks around fondly at the Star Wars posters Nursey’s put up, and drops his bag before freezing.

“Fuck,” he says, staring at their bunk-beds.

“Oh right,” Nursey says, looking as well. “Well, I forgot about that.”

“I mean, you’ll die if we share a bed for the next few months,” Dex points out, although he feels bad about it because he wants to share a bed with Nursey. They’re just going to have to live somewhere very cold after graduation – but he’s getting ahead of himself.

“Yeah, I know,” Nursey says, but he sounds sad about it. “What about, like, Vermont or New Hampshire?”

“What?” Dex asks, because he’s pretty sure he hadn’t said that out loud.

“After graduation,” Nursey says. “Like it’s far enough north that it’s probably not warm in the summers, and it’s not Maine so Colin won’t be able to just drop by…”

“With like a sugar maple in the backyard?” Dex asks. He can actually feel his heart swelling a few sizes in his chest with affection for the stupidly pretty man he’s somehow conned into falling in love with him.

“Cats, not dogs,” Nursey says.

“Obviously, since I’m allergic to dogs,” Dex points out. “I mean, we could get a poodle mix, but I don’t think I could survive the chirping.”

“Okay golden doodles are cute as fuck,” Nursey says. “So if we need a dog, we get a golden doodle, but otherwise just cats. Two so they can be friends and shit.”

Dex shakes his head in fond exasperation and kisses him, steering him back towards the bottom bunk. They can always worry about getting a bigger bed once winter happens and Dex actively needs Nursey’s body heat to keep from dying.

“Ransom and Holster have had sex on my bed,” Nursey protests, pulling Dex’s shirt off over his head.

“Yeah, well,” Dex says, taking Nursey’s hat and kissing him again.

* * *

 

==The Hockey Gays==

**Adam:** congrats on your Body Issue Zimmboni

**Jack:** you don’t get to call me that

**Kent:** does Eric?

**Eric:** I get to call him other things ;)

**Drew:** Tater got copies made of every single picture and harassed the photographer for all the unused shots and plastered the entire locker room with them.

**Fred Astaire:** can we get those for the Haus?

**Me:** you actually want mostly nude pictures of Jack for the Haus?

**Fred Astaire:** I want to see the taddies have their Big Gay Crises.

**+1(360)555-8575:** can we get a few of ‘em for the Schooners locker room?

**Adam:** don’t make it weird Trout

**+1(360)555-8575:** you have nude pictures of your boyfriend in your locker

**Justin:** he does? What the fuck bro

**Kent:** …I’m genuinely shocked you people won a Stanley Cup

**Eric:** Nursey, don’t harass the tadpoles. If they’re gay they’ve found the right team and they’ll tell you in due time.

**Adam:** Bits, you thought we were going to beat you up before you came out to us

**Eric:** yes, but now the senior council is Chowder, Dex, and Nursey!

**Me:** yeah I think the taddies are going to be a little less concerned about appearances

==

* * *

 

The newest batch of tadpoles are good at hockey, Dex can say that much for them. They’re fast, and they’re scared of the senior council regardless of what he might have said to the group message Holster set up. It’s because they won the NCAA championships the year before, Dex knows, and because, well, they have the numbers of multiple Stanley Cup winners stored in their phones and he, Chowder, and Nursey are in frequent contact with them. Dex can only hope it’s going to get easier next year for them when Whiskey’s captain.

But Dex also knows there’s no way they’re scared of them in a “these guys will beat me up for being gay” way, because Chowder’s favourite training tactic is to make him and Nursey play against each other in scrimmages so they get better at spotting each other’s weak points and can play better together in game, and the chirping gets a little inappropriate sometimes.

“Oh my god, fuck you Nurse,” Dex complains as Nursey checks him into the boards.

“I mean, you did this morning, but maybe if you hadn’t you’d skate better,” Nursey says.

“Hey!” Dex protests. “Even if I fucked you until neither of us could walk, I’d still skate better than you!”

“Ooh, can we test that theory?” Nursey asks, his eyes lighting up while the tadpoles slowly edge away. Dex is somewhat aware of Chowder covering his eyes in dismay while Whiskey and Tango snicker. He doesn’t really care though, since he’s busy picturing Nursey naked.

“I’m out of class at three,” Dex says.

“Damn, I’m not out until four, but I’ll see you at the Haus?” Nursey asks.

Dex agrees and they skate away from each other back to their starting points.

==The Hockey Gays ==

**Fred Astaire:** hey, Holster/Trout/Schooners in general, what do you guys think of making a play out of that fucking ESPN article?

**Adam:** what’s the play?

**Fred Astaire:** flirt-chirping our opponents because they think we’re all gay

**Me:** we’ll get ourselves killed

**+1(360)555-8575:** Our friend from Maine has a point

**Me:** thank you, our friend from Washington

**+1(360)555-8575:** Trout

**Me:** Dex

**Trout:** Nice to meet you

**Me:** yeah. And I’m still saying we’d get ourselves killed if we started making kissy faces at the fuckheads from North Dakota

==

Over all, they’re doing pretty well as the season starts. Dex is the one who keeps having moments of panic about the fact they’re graduating in less than a year, and Nursey is so frustratingly chill about it.

“It’s going to be fine,” Nursey says. “Right? You know that, don’t you?”

“I – yeah,” Dex agrees, resting his head against Nursey’s shoulder. It’s starting to get cool enough he can stay in the bottom bunk with Nursey instead of up top and it’s just making him think they seriously need a bigger bed.

“Because whatever happens, we’re still gonna be together, right?” Nursey asks. He’s tracing one hand up and down Dex’s spine and Dex keeps feeling gooseflesh break out on his back.

“Yeah,” Dex mumbles. It’s so much simpler than the full answers – than telling him, “I think I’d fall apart if we weren’t together” or “I love you so much it scares the shit out of me.”

Their first big game is on parents’ weekend, as it always is. Dex is not at all surprised when Bitty, Jack, Assumpta, and Snowy come up from Providence to cheer them on, and he’s even less surprised when he finds Whiskey patting one of the tadpoles on the back while he breathes into a paper bag because Jack Fucking Zimmermann and Andrew Fucking Sewick are in the stands.

They win, which makes all of the tadpoles super excited, because then they get to have Jack and Snowy sign their jerseys while Shitty cries like a proud parent.

“I didn’t really realise you were that good at hockey,” Assumpta says, ruffling Dex’s wet hair once they get out of the locker room.

Dex raises his eyebrows at her. “You do realise the only reason I can afford to go here is because I got a hockey scholarship right?”

“Well, sure, but,” Assumpta says.

“Hey, all you family-less seniors,” Shitty says, dropping an arm across Chowder’s shoulders. Chowder’s parents were so sorry but they were in the middle of a major development at work and they couldn’t leave (they’d skyped extensively the night before). “We should all go grab drinks.”

“Yeah, for sure,” Nursey agrees as they walk out of Faber in a group. They’ve just stepped out into the crisp autumn air and Dex can’t help but admire how damn good Nursey looks in a beanie and a flannel with rolled up sleeves that –

“That is my shirt,” Dex says, inspecting the grease stain on the front of the shirt from the last time he’d needed to change the oil in his truck.

“Yeah,” Nursey says with a cheerful grin Dex can’t help but roll his eyes at. “What? It smells good.”

“You guys are fuckin’ gross,” Shitty informs them, but he sounds fond.

“Yeah, yeah,” Nursey starts when a voice sounds from behind them.

“Derek.”

The woman has a crisp voice, the same sort of bite to it that the air is blowing at them. That alone would’ve been enough for Dex to be on guard, but the fact the colour drains from Nursey’s face, and his spine goes rigid says even more. Shitty is also looking over their shoulders like he’s just seen a ghost, and so Dex is pretty sure he knows what’s coming when he turns around.

The woman standing behind them in front of a Jaguar is not particularly tall. Her hair is the same dark shade as Nursey’s, but pin straight and pulled back. She’s young, Dex notices, and he can feel coldness radiating off her from afar.

“You weren’t at the address listed on your school contact information,” she says. She’s holding paperwork, and steps towards them, which is when Dex realises Nursey’s starting to shake. He grabs his hand, and half expects Nursey’s mother to start berating them, but he’s not actually sure she notices. “I was sure I was going to have to mail this to you, and couriers are so inconvenient and really, you can never trust the post.”

“We had a game,” Nursey says. To Dex’s dismay, his voice comes out nearly a whisper and he remembers suddenly that this is the first time Nursey’s seen either of his parents for two and a half years.

“Ah, well that’s bad timing,” Mrs. Nurse says, and something in her tone makes Dex absolutely sure she means the game, not her own. “You’ll need to have your lawyer look at these.”

“His lawyer?” Dex repeats, squinting at her. She looks over him dismissively before turning back to Nursey.

“It’s the paperwork for your grandfather’s inheritance,” Mrs Nurse says. “Our lawyers have looked over them carefully, of course, and everything should be in order. He left you a very reasonable sum.”

Nursey’s still shaking, Dex notices, and his hand is so tight around Dex’s fingers, he’s shocked they’re not broken.

“Right,” Nursey says, accepting the papers. They’re immediately taken by Shitty, who Dex now notices is on Nursey’s other side.

“I’m shocked you dropped these off in person,” Shitty says.

“I have a conference in Boston, so it was on my way,” Mrs Nurse says, almost like she can’t hear the accusation in Shitty’s voice. “But yes, if you could have your – you’re his lawyer then?”

“Damn fucking right,” Shitty agrees, glaring at Mrs Nurse.

She frowns at his language which is the first time Dex has seen her make a facial expression.

“Have him sign these then and notarized and send them on to the family lawyer, would you?” Mrs. Nurse asks. She looks at her watch. “Oh. Well I’ll be late if I stay longer. By Friday if you wouldn’t mind? We have to start working on selling the unspecified assets, and if Derek wants to claim any he’ll have to put in his requests by the end of the week.”

And then she gets back in her car and drives off, leaving the group of them staring in mute horror at the space she’d been. It’s happened too fast for Dex to get the opportunity to yell at her, which is what he wants more than anything.

Bitty speaks first.

“Oh honey,” he says quietly, putting a hand on Nursey’s shoulder. To Dex’s dismay, Nursey flinches.

“Can we go home?” Nursey asks. His voice is still the same broken whisper and it’s making Dex’s chest hurt.

“Yeah, of course we can,” Dex says. “Shitty can you--”

“Got your back,” Shitty says, holding up the paperwork. Dex can feel the sad eyes following them as they retreat to the Haus.

Dex is impressed that Nursey actually makes it to the attic before he falls apart. Dex doesn’t know what else he’s supposed to do aside from hold him as tightly as he can and run his hands through Nursey’s hair. But Nursey keeps shaking and Dex’s shoulder is getting wet, so he starts babbling.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Dex murmurs, pressing a kiss to Nursey’s neck. Nursey’s gripping him so tightly that Dex is kind of struggling to breathe, but at his statement, Nursey relaxes a fraction. “Because I’m really, really in love with you, and we really need to get a bigger bed, but I’m betting we can get a king size when we move somewhere after we graduate, and then the golden doodle and the cats can sleep up there with us, right?”

Nursey sniffs, and stops shaking.

“It’s really strange to me that we’ve only been together for five months because it feels like it’s been forever and it’s going to be forever, and it’s goddamn terrifying and also the best thing I’ve ever felt and it’s because of you,” Dex says. Nursey smells like sage and spearmint and lemon grass and it’s become Dex’s favourite smell in the world. More so than even Bitty’s pies or Granny’s cookies. “And I can’t imagine ever leaving that behind.”

Nursey shudders one last time, and sniffs, and then lifts his head from Dex’s shoulder.

“Do you mean that?” he asks. His eyes are rimmed in red and it makes Dex feel like someone’s just stabbed him in the heart. And he knows he made Nursey cry once when he hooked up with Paolo, but he’s never going to forgive himself if he does it again.

“Every word,” Dex says, kissing Nursey’s forehead.

He’s not sure when they move to the bed, fully clothed and tangled together under the blankets so they stay warm. Dex offers his services as a willing ear should Nursey want to talk, but he’s not really surprised when Nursey doesn’t say anything.

So Dex settles for tracing the lines of his face with a fingertip. There aren’t constellations there, since Nursey’s skin is too flawless, but it makes Nursey smile anyway.

“I’m – um – they were in college,” Nursey says eventually.

“What?” Dex asks.

“When they had me,” Nursey says. “My mom had a midterm due a few days after I was supposed to be born, so she got them to induce her a couple weeks early so she didn’t have to worry about being in labour during her test.”

“Jesus,” Dex hears himself say.

“My dad’s a daytrader,” Nursey continues. “My mom’s the CEO and controlling shareholder of some imports corporation specialising in antiquities.”

Dex runs his hand through Nursey’s hair again and pulls him forward until Nursey’s forehead is pressed into Dex’s shoulder. He’s well aware by now that Nursey likes being touched just as much as he does, even in the most platonic of ways. He’s just been mentally avoiding the fact that it’s because he didn’t have any affection as a kid.

“I don’t think they knew what to do with an artistic kid,” Nursey says.

“You don’t have to justify their actions,” Dex says, his voice coming out a little harsher than he means it to. “You’re actually even allowed to hate them.”

“But I don’t want to,” Nursey mumbles.

“I’m willing to do it for you,” Dex offers. He knows he’s not going to convince Nursey to hate his parents and he doesn’t really intend to. He will probably always have that spark of hatred in his heart directed at them, but it’s the same thing with Colin. He knows Nursey despises Colin, and he understands why, but Colin is still always going to be the one who taught him how to shave, who drove him to hockey practice when he was in middle school.

“Thanks,” Nursey says, his voice so quiet it just about breaks Dex’s heart all over again.

They’re silent for a while, just lying there in each other’s company, until Nursey pipes up again.

“I didn’t know my grandpa was dead,” he says. “Which I guess means my grandma’s moving back to Beirut. She always threatened to do that if he died before her.”

Dex tries to suppress his growing loathing of Nursey’s mother, tries to find it in himself to feel compassion for her since she just lost her father, but it doesn’t come.

“Were you close?” Dex asks.

Nursey shrugs. “Closer, I guess,” he says. “My dad’s dad drank himself to death when I was twelve, so we never really got to know each other.”

Dex dreads asking the question, but he can’t stop himself.

“What about your dad’s mom?” he asks.

“She’s in St Clair, the mental hospital,” Nursey says. “I dunno. Apparently she like tried to murder the gardener when my dad was seventeen or something and pled insanity at the court case.”

“Holy shit,” Dex says.

“Still want to be involved with me and my family?” Nursey asks. He says it like it’s a joke, but Dex can hear the note of worry in his voice.

“Yep,” Dex says. “I can handle whatever it takes as long as it gets me you.”

Nursey smiles and buries his face in Dex’s chest.

It’s a little while later that he falls asleep. Dex has no intention of going anywhere that would require him to stop holding Nursey, and panics when his phone buzzes in his back pocket. He pulls it out and silences it immediately.

==SMH Group Text==

**Eric:** are you guys okay, Dex?

**Me:** yeah, Nursey just fell asleep

**Shitty:** I’m pretty sure he’s not gonna care but his grandpa left him like 1.5 million dollars

**Justin:** wait what the fuck is going on over there?

**Jack:** Dex, I think it’s up to you to decide if we can share?

**Me:** uh, Nursey’s grandpa died.

**Shitty:** and his mother is horrifying, and was when I knew them in Andover.

**Me:** you knew this was going on?

**Shitty:** not like the extent of it

**Larissa:** are you guys okay?

**Me:** getting there. Like I said, he’s asleep

**Chris:** yeah, but are you okay?

**Me:** I’ve never seriously contemplated murder before

**Eric:** …meaning that now you have?

**Me:** no comment

**Shitty:** good man.

==

==Assumpta==

**Assumpta:** is Nursey okay?

**Me:** he’s asleep

**Assumpta:** that’s not an answer, Will.

**Me:** he’s not good, but I hope he’ll be fine.

**Assumpta:** okay. Good. Well he’ll always be welcome at our house

**Me:** yeah he knows that I think. Granny was pretty clear.

**Assumpta:** I meant our house in Providence, but yeah. There too.

==

* * *

 

Dex’s arm is numb when he wakes up. It doesn’t take long to figure out that it’s because Nursey slept with his head resting on Dex’s bicep. Dex kisses him on the forehead to wake him up, and Nursey stirs slowly.

“Morning,” Dex says, since it’s probably not a good morning.

“Hey,” Nursey says. He takes a deep breath and then frowns. “Is that pie?”

Dex sniffs and discovers it is, in fact, pie.

They climb out of bed, Dex rubbing his numb arm on their way down the stairs, and pause in the bathroom to brush their teeth. Nursey’s jaw is covered in stubble and it’s so ingrained in Dex not to mention his attraction to Nursey that it takes him the entire time they’re brushing their teeth before he really acknowledges the fact he can say things.

“You look really sexy with stubble,” he says, running his thumb across Nursey’s jaw.

“If you’re angling for a blowjob you really don’t have to try that hard,” Nursey replies.

Dex laughs. “I actually wasn’t, but since you mentioned it...”

Nursey offers him a smile that looks almost normal except for a lingering sadness in his eyes while he crowds Dex against the sink.

“Except that there’s pie,” Dex says, and he’s pretty sure he’s never been so conflicted in his life.

“Damn,” Nursey says, sounding as conflicted about it as Dex feels.

They stall for a moment, just looking at each other, and then decide silently to head for the kitchen.

Bitty is sitting at the kitchen table with several pies laid out before him, a fresh pot of coffee on the counter, and Assumpta and Shitty.

“Where are Jack and Snowy?” Dex asks, sitting down as well.

“They have practice,” Assumpta explains. “Bitty and I stayed up here instead to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m fine,” Nursey says. “That was pretty normal for her.”

“That’s really fucked up, honey,” Bitty says, cutting them each a slice of pie while Assumpta grabs coffee.

“Yeah,” Nursey says. “I know.”

He takes a deep breath and looks over at Shitty.

“So what did my grandpa leave me?” he asks.

“Comparatively? Not much,” Shitty says. “One and a half mil and a house in the Green Mountains.”

Nursey nods while Dex tries not to make eye contact with Assumpta or Bitty. He’s pretty sure that Bitty is from a firmly middle class family, and theirs always teetered on the edge. One and a half million isn’t really something that conceptually makes sense to him.

“Great, what do I have to sign?” Nursey asks. Shitty slides him the papers and Nursey signs them and then turns back to his pie. Dex can feel the very well -suppressed anger coming off him and feels totally helpless to do anything about it.

Assumpta and Bitty stay through breakfast and then head back down to Providence. Shitty has to head out as well because he’s helping Lardo set up for her art show. Once they’re gone, Dex and Nursey return to the attic. Dex sits down on the edge of Nursey’s bunk and waits for a moment before tugging Nursey down with him when it becomes clear he’s not going to sit on his own volition.

Once he’s down, Nursey tips sideways and lays his head in Dex’s lap, letting Dex run his fingers through his hair.

“Sorry for being so moody,” Nursey mumbles, kissing Dex’s jean clad thigh. There’s nothing sexual about it – even if Dex is pretty sure he’s got a hickey in the same spot – but it’s a sweet gesture.

“Your grandpa just died and your mother is horrifying, so I think you get a free pass,” Dex informs him. He really loves touching Nursey’s hair. Partly because his hands always smell like Nursey afterwards, and partly because it’s so soft, and the curls are so animated and lively under his fingers.

“Thanks,” Nursey says.

They sit there quietly for a while, until Nursey finally speaks again.

“Are you still going to love me if Colin finds out about us and disowns you for it?” he asks.

“Jesus,” Dex mumbles, leaning forward and kissing him on the cheek. “I love you a lot more than I love Colin, okay?”

Nursey shrugs and Dex lets it sit for a second and then stands, dragging Nursey out of the Haus and to the truck. Nursey asks where they’re going, but Dex doesn’t answer. He doesn’t actually say anything until they get to the Ikea.

“What are we shopping for?” Nursey asks.

“What do you think?” Dex asks, grabbing a meatball and handing another to Nursey.

“I know what I want it to be,” Nursey says. “But I don’t think we’re going to get a king sized bed into the attic.”

“Sure we are,” Dex says. “It’s not like we use the floor space. Besides, we’ll carry the frame up in the box and assemble it ourselves.”

Nursey raises his eyebrow at him.

“I’ll assemble it myself and you’ll hand me the appropriate tools,” Dex amends.

“Thanks, babe,” Nursey says, kissing him quickly. Dex doesn’t know if it’s for the offer to assemble their new bed himself rather than try to get Nursey’s accident prone ass involved, or if it’s more in general.

They eventually decide on a frame that’s convenient for the fact it has drawers built in, and bicker for a moment about what mattress is best. Dex considers very briefly fighting Nursey about splitting the bill, but Nursey gives him a dark glower that’s out of character enough for Dex to just let it go.

Getting the mattress up the stairs back at the Haus isn’t that hard. Chowder and WTF offer to help, but they eventually all agree that it would just be too many people trying to handle one mattress, so the others disappear to their respective rooms. Nursey sends a half-hearted chirp in WTF’s direction about keeping their sexcapades in the LAX house, which Dex takes as a good sign.

It takes Dex most of the day to assemble their new bed frame, and for them to disassemble the bunkbeds and drag them down to the basement for whoever they end up giving their dibs to, since it’s unlikely they’ll be dating.

“Although, frankly, considering our team’s track record,” Dex points out as they wrap the mattresses in the plastic from their new one so they don’t get damaged in the basement.

“What are you talking about? We’re not all dating each other,” Nursey says.

“Jack and Bits,” Dex says. “Ransom and Holster, Shitty and Lardo, you and me, WTF.”

Nursey frowns and then shrugs. “Okay. And I’m pretty sure Ollie and Wicks banged a couple times.”

“So statistically,” Dex says.

Nursey nods and lets Dex lead him back upstairs, where they flop onto their new bed. Despite the poor circumstances – and never in Dex’s entire life did he _ever_ think he’d be at a stage where he could lump one and a half million dollars in with “poor circumstances” – something between excitement and contentment pools in his lower abdomen, because they’ve got a real bed. Dex can roll over in his sleep and not fall on the floor or bash into a wall, and Nursey can kick all the blankets off on his side of the bed and not leave Dex exposed to the elements.

“What are you thinking about?” Nursey asks, turning to look over at Dex.

“The future,” Dex says.

“Just as long as we both accept that any child we might ever have will be named for _your_ parents, not mine,” Nursey says.

Dex snorts. “Can’t,” he says. “Colin beat me to it. Siobhan just about killed him, but she’s got dibs on Dad’s name.”

“Your mom’s name was Ainsley?” Nursey asks. He nuzzles deeper into Dex’s neck and Dex would be perfectly content if they never moved again.

Well, no, that’s not true, because he really likes having sex with Nursey, but they never have to leave the bed again.

“Yeah,” he says. “Ainsley McEwan Poindexter.”

“What’s your niece’s middle name?” Nursey asks. “Not McEwan.”

“I don’t know,” Dex says. He’s a bad uncle, he realises, but it’s not like they’re old enough to be actual people yet. Ainsley’s getting there though. “Angela I think. For Granny.”

“Oh,” Nursey says. He sounds embarrassed.

“What?” Dex asks.

“I didn’t know Granny’s name was Angela,” he says.

Dex can’t help but burst out laughing. He buries his hand in Nursey’s hair and kisses him on the top of the head. “For being a writer,” he says. “You’re remarkably unobservant sometimes.”

“Is this just because I didn’t notice Quinn and Jim were two people?” Nursey asks, frowning at him. But there’s a hint of humour in his eyes, and Dex thinks that they’re gonna be okay.

“Mmhmm,” Dex agrees, kissing him properly.

Nursey responds enthusiastically, his hands immediately under Dex’s sweatshirt, pushing it up over his head along with his shirt.

“Really?” Dex asks when Nursey unbuttons his jeans.

“I had to watch you build shit and look all competent all day,” Nursey complains. “So yes, really.”

“Jesus,” Dex says, kissing him again and unbuttoning Nursey’s shirt. He’s a little obsessed with how soft Nursey’s skin is under his hands, even though they’ve been together for five months. Only five months, he realises, and they’re already planning for forever.

_Well_ , he reflects, _I guess I really did say I didn’t want to take it slow._

“I’ve just gotta know, real quick,” Dex says, leaning back from the hickey he’s putting on Nursey’s chest. Nursey looks dishevelled below him – not in the typical ways Nursey looks dishevelled either. He hasn’t quite got his shirt off his shoulders so it’s just unbuttoned and hanging open, his jeans are unbuttoned and starting to come down his hips, his pupils are blown, his eyelids half-shut, his lips red and wet from all their kissing, and Dex almost loses his train of thought.

“What?” Nursey asks. “Because if it’s not something, could you keep kissing me?”

Dex, having lost his train of thought, leans down to kiss him again. Nursey’s hand is on the back of his neck, holding him there, when Dex remembers what he was going to ask.

“Oh, right,” he says, sitting up again. Nursey pouts. “If my fixing things is such a huge turn -on, are we going to have problems when the dishwasher breaks? Because I feel like if we have kitchen sex, Bitty will find out, like he’ll know, disturbance in the force type shit, and like, have us murdered.”

Nursey shakes his head and pulls Dex back down for another kiss.

“You’re a dork,” he says.

Dex grins and finally gets Nursey’s shirt off. “I guess we match.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Members of the Hockey Gays Group Chat set up by Holster:  
> \- Holster himself  
> \- Ransom  
> \- Jack, Bitty, Nursey, Dex  
> \- Snowy  
> \- Kent Parson  
> \- and Trout, a member of the Schooners 
> 
> Regarding Trout:  
> \- He is Holster's line mate, d-man partner. This is his second year with the NHL  
> \- He is a WA native and very proud of it  
> \- He was the first person Holster came out to on the Schooners because he drunkenly hit on Holster at a team party and told him it was a shame he had a significant other because Holster is too pretty to be straight, and Holster dragged Ransom out of the ether and introduced Trout to his boyfriend. Trout was overly delighted by the statuesque quality of Ransom's person and the three of them have been bros since.  
> \- may or may not have hooked up with Parse after they beat the Aces for the Clarence Campbell.
> 
> Come cry with me on [tumblr](http://omgericzimmermann.tumblr.com).


	9. Wait For It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this chapter titled after the _Hamilton_ song because I listened to it for like six hours straight while I was writing this chapter? Yes. Yes it is. 
> 
> Updates to Nursey's Contact list:  
> Snowy - Jack Frost  
> Assumpta - Elsa  
> Trout, Holster's d-man partner on the Schooners - Salmon  
> Kent Parson - Parsnip
> 
> As always, thanks to my beta [Catsilhouette](http://catsilhouette.tumblr.com).

Nursey is pretty sure his absolute favourite thing is waking up next to Dex, with Dex curled up in a ball underneath twelve blankets so that only the top of his head is visible. Their bed is big enough that it keeps him from dying of heatstroke when Dex needs more blankets than Nursey can willingly stand, and the mattress is firm enough that – well, they’ve gotten in the bad habit of sleeping naked.

Nursey quietly creeps out of bed, pulling his arm out of Dex’s grasp (Dex groans and sounds a bit like a dying cat, which makes Nursey snicker to himself), pulls on a pair of boxers that might be his and heads to the kitchen to pick up some coffee. Most everyone is already gone for Thanksgiving, and the few of them who are staying (him, Dex, Chowder) have plans to go to Providence.

Nursey grabs their two cups of coffee and returns to the attic, placing the cups on their actual, honest to god beside tables, and climbs back into bed.

“What time is it?” Dex mumbles from under his blanket cocoon.

“Eight,” Nursey replies. “We should leave in about an hour.”

Dex grumbles and sticks his hand out for coffee. Nursey is more than happy to provide.

They meet Chowder and Farmer in the living room and pile into Farmer’s car since it actually fits four people, unlike Dex’s truck. Nursey and Dex are relegated to the backseat and firmly instructed not to make out because the only people allowed to get off in Farmer’s car are apparently Farmer and Chowder. As soon as she says it, Chowder turns bright red.

“Caitlin!” he exclaims.

“C, did you lose your virginity in a car?” Nursey asks. Dex smacks him in the thigh and Nursey laughs.

“More like behind the stands at the Shark Tank,” Farmer says. Chowder is so red in the face that Nursey is pretty sure he’s never going to stop blushing. “Not with me, I might add.”

She gives Chowder a dirty look before snapping her eyes back to the road while Dex and Nursey stare at Chowder with huge eyes.

“C,” Nursey says, pressing his hand to his chest, not sure if he should be proud or shocked. He settles for both. He’s honestly not sure how he feels about the fact Chowder has slept with more people than he has.

“Oh come on, Derek, like you were a virgin when you started college,” Farmer scolds, giving him a teasing look in the rear-view mirror.

“I was, actually,” Nursey says, which visibly shocks both Farmer and Chowder. It also definitely proves his point about not thinking Dex would believe him had he told him before they had sex that he was a virgin. “Will was my first.”

“Holy shit, no wonder you guys are so gross,” Farmer says, and Nursey grins at her before leaning across the backseat to kiss Dex with an inappropriate amount of tongue. Farmer throws a plastic water bottle at them.

They arrive in Providence and go straight to Jack and Bitty’s apartment, which is in a converted mill building by the river. Nursey is immediately banned from the kitchen and finds himself sitting on the couch with Assumpta, Jack, and a fuzzy redbone coonhound puppy feeling very distinctly like they’re all in the shame corner.

“When did you get the dog?” Nursey asks, scratching its ears.

“Oh, uh, we watched  _ Where the Red Fern Grows _ and Bitty wouldn’t stop crying so I kind of got a dog,” Jack explains. “Her name is Hattie.”

Nursey almost snorts the tea he’s drinking out his nose.

“Are you guys going to get a dog?” Jack asks.

“Nah, Will’s allergic,” Assumpta says. When Jack looks panicked, she rolls her eyes. “Not like  _ super _ allergic, just starts sneezing if he’s around them too long. And then Iain’s allergic to cats, so we could never have pets growing up.”

Jack relaxes and they stay in their shame corner while Bitty, Dex, Snowy, C, and Farmer work on making Thanksgiving dinner.

Shitty and Lardo are the next to arrive and Nursey is relieved to see Shitty’s got his arm around her shoulders when they walk in and that they share a quick kiss before Lardo goes to help Bitty and Shitty is thrown in their direction.

“What did you all do to deserve this?” Shitty asks, sitting on the ottoman and stealing Hattie from Jack’s lap. Clearly, the dog likes Shitty because she immediately starts trying to lick his moustache off, kind of like she’s grooming another dog.

“We live together, he knows my flaws,” Jack explains. “Also he said something once about not being able to concentrate on baking if I’m in the kitchen?”

“Because you distract him with that ass,” Shitty explains. “Nursey?”

“Bruh,” Nursey says, which is his only attempt at explanation.

“Right, yeah,” Shitty agrees. “And Assumpta?”

“Drew and I came over for dinner a few weeks ago and I might have lit something on fire by accident,” Assumpta explains. Nursey bursts out laughing and she leans across Jack to smack him. “Shut up, Nursey. Siobhan got all the cooking genes from Granny, it’s not my fault.”

“Will got some of them,” Nursey points out.

“Great, so Siobhan and Will managed to inherit her cooking skills on an 80-20 split, and the rest of us were just sort of fucked,” Assumpta explains. She looks back at Shitty. “So yeah, I’m not allowed in the kitchen. Why are you banned?”

“I dunno, Bits thinks I’m gonna start cooking naked or something,” Shitty says. When Nursey and Jack stare at him with very pointed expressions, he looks guilty. “That was like, twice.”

“A day, for four years,” Jack replies. “Not to mention all the times you were naked in my  _ bed _ .”

“I’m telling you Jackie, you should’ve instituted a Never-Again-Shitty-With-No-Pants-In-Holster’s-Bed Act,” Holster says from the doorway.

“Except he should’ve named it better because Jack’s not a fucking dweeb like you,” Ransom replies, dropping his bag by the door.

“You love me just the way I am,” Holster protests.

“Yeah, I really do,” Ransom agrees although he sounds disappointed in himself for it, kissing him on the cheek and heading into the kitchen.

“This is the shame corner?” Holster guesses, joining them in the living room.

“Yep,” Nursey agrees, fist bumping him. “What did you do?”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure Rans is gonna be out here with us in a second,” Holster says. He’s proved right moments later when Ransom joins them in the living room looking guilty. “Yeah, I don’t think Bits has forgiven us for having an entire cupboard full of Sriracha when he first saw the Haus.”

“You guys had a whole  _ cupboard _ ?” Assumpta asks. She sounds deeply worried on their behalf.

“It’s really good in Top Ramen,” Ransom says.

“Oh my god, you’re a fucking  _ doctor _ ,” Shitty scolds.

“I am a broke ass med student,” Ransom corrects.

“You aren’t broke you’re engaged to a Stanley Cup winning hockey player,” Holster says.

There’s a beat of silence and then everyone starts screaming enthusiastically. Hattie starts barking – baying, Nursey supposes – and the rest of their crew comes from the kitchen to figure out what the fuck is going on, and then start enthusing with them. Shitty is crying, C keeps yelling about how ‘swawesome this is, and Nursey’s pretty sure his heart is going to burst.

They spend Thanksgiving dinner chattering happily about Holster and Ransom’s as yet very vague wedding plans – Ransom refuses to get married until he’s at least reached the point of residency; Holster will not under any circumstances get married at Niagara Falls – and then head to their respective crash pads for the night. Dex, Nursey, Chowder, and Farmer are all staying at Assumpta and Snowy’s house, and Nursey takes a moment to realise he’s more or less staying at his sister-in-law’s house. Despite how deep into this relationship he is, he hasn’t let himself think about it in those terms. But Jack’s shopping for rings – Jack probably has rings, if he’s being honest with himself – and Ransom and Holster are engaged (“En-gay-ged,” Holster had said with a shit eating grin, while Ransom pointed out that both of them are bi. Holster replied that the pun didn’t work with “bi”) and now Nursey can’t stop thinking about the future.

He’s now in possession of kind of a lot of money, and a cabin in Middlebury, and he can see it so clearly. Dex working as an engineer, him working as a writer, their cats. And they’ll have a family, even if Nursey’s biological family is in absolutely no way involved. They’ll have Assumpta and Snowy and Granny, the whole SMH team, and Nursey’s half-baked plans to steal Colin’s children.

“You look kinda misty-eyed, babe,” Dex informs him from the bathroom doorway. He’s got a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth and his other arm crossed over his bare chest.

“Yeah, sorry,” Nursey says. “I just kinda thought for sure Jack was gonna be the first one to propose.”

“I’m pretty sure Jack thought so too,” Dex replies, ducking back into the bathroom for a second and returning to the room without the toothbrush. “He’s probably waiting for some stupidly romantic perfect moment.”

“Nah, come on,” Nursey says, while Dex curls around him. “He’s gonna have all these big plans and then fuck up and propose in the shower.”

“And Bits is gonna be pissed because I would bet money he’s also got grandiose romantic plans,” Dex agrees, and Nursey can feel him smiling against his chest. “I can hear the fight now. ‘Jack Zimmermann how dare you propose to me in the shower I was going to bake a pie and get down on one knee like a proper southern gentleman.’”

Nursey snorts and has to consciously remind himself that they aren’t quite 22 yet and have been together for six months and he is not allowed to bring up marriage in the context of them.

* * *

“Yeah,” Dex says into his phone. He’s stretched out on the bed next to Nursey, and Nursey is a little annoyed because they were in the middle of something, and then Dex’s phone rang, and of course it was Granny and nothing kills the mood like Dex’s octogenarian grandmother calling.

“Yeah of course, Granny,” Dex says. “Nah, we probably won’t carpool since Drew’s got a different schedule and we have to be back for the Princeton game. Yeah, of course. Love you too.”

He hangs up and looks over at Nursey with an apologetic expression.

“Mood’s dead isn’t it?” he asks.

“I mean, it could probably be resurrected, but yeah,” Nursey agrees. “What did Granny want?”

“Oh, just to remind us we’re expected for Christmas,” Dex replies. “And are supposed to bring nothing but ourselves.”

“Oh,” Nursey says. He hasn’t really thought about Christmas beyond deleting a text from his dad telling him that they were going to be in California for the holidays.

“You don’t have to go, if you don’t want to,” Dex says, sounding suddenly nervous. “I just – I know going back to New York does bad shit to you emotionally, and I don’t want to have to come down there and save you again this year when you could just be with me in the first place.”

“Of course I want to go,” Nursey says, kissing Dex soundly. “I’m just worried.”

“About what?” Dex asks.

“Colin?” Nursey points out. “And the fact I’ve spent the past two summers with you guys, and like, sure that’s something best friends do when they’re Ransom and Holster--”

“Who we do not use as a standard of measurement for normal friendship activities,” Dex reminds him. “As they are currently engaged.”

“Right,” Nursey says, trying to quell the growing nerves in his stomach. “And didn’t you say Colin gets extra pissy during the holidays because his ex-wife gets the kids for Christmas or some shit?”

“Yeah,” Dex agrees. But Nursey can see the fire building in his eyes and feels a small swell of hope in his chest. “But fuck Colin. It’s our first Christmas together and we’re gonna spend it together. There’s gonna be so many people there anyway that Colin probably won’t even notice.”

“God it’s gonna be so weird to tell people I’m your friend from the team,” Nursey says, leaning back on his pillows.

“How can I make it up to you?” Dex asks, pressing a kiss to his shoulder. The next goes to his pec, his ribs, his hip bone.

“You’re doing great,” Nursey says breathlessly.

Nursey could write poems about Dex’s mouth; he could write about the perfect balance between soft and firm that make up his lips; he could write about the chirps that come out of Dex’s mouth, the flirting, sometimes the straight up filth because Nursey is too romantic for dirty talk but Dex sure as fuck isn’t; he could write about Dex’s accent and how it turns from somewhat standard unaccented New Englander to 90 year old Maine fisherman when he’s drunk. But he thinks he’s probably too much of a romantic to write about the things Dex can do with his tongue.

The poetry he does write about Dex he typically keeps in the same journal, a beat up decomposition book with fish on it. It makes Dex roll his eyes every time Nursey takes it out to scribble in it, especially since they both know Dex can’t read his handwriting.

“You’ll have to write all the thank you cards,” Nursey says one day when Dex catches him writing and gets the “how are you a real person” look on his face.

“Sure,” Dex agrees.

Between hockey and finals, the day they’re supposed to leave for Maine for Christmas sneaks up on Nursey. Before he knows it, Dex is steering him into the truck and cranking the heater.

“Out of curiosity, how did you survive your childhood?” Nursey asks. “Because it’s colder in Maine than it is in Massachusetts, and Granny’s house has a heating system that’s only slightly better than the Haus, so like…”

“Electric blankets,” Dex says.

“And you didn’t want to get one last winter because…” Nursey prompts.

“Because it gave me an excuse to climb into bed with you,” Dex replies, the red colouring the tips of his ears proving his seriousness. Nursey grins and leans over to kiss him quickly before returning to scribbling on his own arm.

“What are you writing?” Dex asks.

“A poem,” Nursey replies.

“About?” Dex asks.

“What do you think?” Nursey says. Obviously Dex should know by now that he is the main inspiration for Nursey’s poetry.

“Would you read it to me?” Dex asks. His voice is quiet and Nursey wonders if it’s because he’s still a little scared of how much he loves him. Nursey’s not, but he’s also made his peace with the fact he’s completely in love with Dex and probably will be until the day he dies.

“I mean it’s not finished,” Nursey says. Dex nudges him, so Nursey clears his throat.

_ Freckles like stars and constellations _

_ But not like we’re starry eyed _

_ Lovestruck fools _

_ Counting our luck and hoping it holds _

_ More like Magellan _

_ Who used the stars as a map _

_ Like the astrologers _

_ Who used the stars to read the future _

_ Because I can see our future _

_ Mapped in the constellations on your skin _

He looks over at Dex, suddenly feeling shy. To his surprise, Dex is gripping the steering wheel very tightly and flicks on the turn signal at the next exit. Nursey doesn’t have time to ask what’s going on because Dex is parking behind a Starbucks and tackling him. Nursey can’t help but smirk into the kiss. Dex immediately makes it his purpose to kiss Nursey thoroughly enough to remove the smirk, and Nursey is more than happy when it works.

“Chill, babe,” Nursey says, because his jeans are getting uncomfortably snug. He wonders if Dex is always going to have this effect on him, and oh god he hopes so.

“Don’t say that,” Dex requests. “It’s just so unnecessary.”

“We have to drive another four hours and if we’re late, you know someone in the family is going to ask,” Nursey points out. “So yeah, it is.”

Dex grumbles, and Nursey wonders if Dex is very seriously considering breaking the pre-marital sex rule, because he certainly is.

“Someday, you’re going to have to tell me what the tattoos on your arm say,” Dex says while they get back on the road.

“This one says ‘this ink it travels from the page up my hand into my veins, choking on the stories I’ve told’ but that’s the newest one,” Nursey replies, tracing the letters on his forearm.

“What song is that from?” Dex asks, because he’s frowning like it sounds familiar. “Isn’t that from a song I listen to?”

“One of the ones Snowy got you to listen to, yeah,” Nursey agrees. “I mean it’s too punk rock for me, but I like the lyrics.”

“Fair enough,” Dex says. He looks like he wants to lean across the seat and kiss him again, but they’re driving and it would be a bad move. Nursey can’t afford to show up with hickeys again. Colin bought it when he’d recently smacked himself in the neck with a wrench, but he doesn’t have that kind of excuse anymore.

The rest of Dex’s siblings are already at Granny’s house when they get there, and Snowy and Assumpta have plans to leave after dinner so they can go check into their B&B. But Dex and Nursey are both surprised when they walk in the house and are immediately tackled by Ainsley.

“Hey Ainsley,” Dex says, frowning down at her while she hugs his legs and then looking up for Colin in confusion. He’s leaning against the hallway wall with a mug full of what has to be hot buttered rum and looks more or less like he’s been pulling his hair out. From the den, Nursey can hear Ainsley’s little brothers being tickled by the other Poindexter siblings. He can just barely see the youngest one standing on Snowy, who is as blank faced about this as he is about all other things.

“Hey Will,” Colin says. “Derek, I didn’t realise you were coming.”

“His family is awful, and we’re not leaving him alone at Christmas,” Granny says from the kitchen doorway.

“I’m sorry, man,” Colin says, clapping Nursey on the shoulder. “You’re always welcome with us. Any friend of Will’s is a friend of the family.”

“Thanks,” Nursey says. He wonders just how fast that will change if Colin finds out he and Dex share a bed and are usually naked in it.

“So, uh,” Dex says, looking down at the top of Ainsley’s head. She’s babbling about figure skating lessons as far as Nursey can tell.

“Stephanie’s in Wisconsin,” Colin says, his voice coming out in a harsh grate.

“Mommy’s getting married,” Ainsley informs them with a confused expression. “I don’t like Robert.”

“That’s okay honey, you don’t have to like him, but you have to be nice to him, okay?” Colin says, even though it sounds like every word causes him deep pain. “Why don’t you got make sure Malachy’s not going to hurt Uncle Drew?”

Ainsley runs off to the living room to try and save Snowy, at which point Granny drags Colin into the kitchen and forces him into a chair. Nursey and Dex exchange looks. For the first time Nursey feels a little conflicted about hating Colin.

“How long ago did they get divorced?” Nursey whispers.

“Like a year and a half,” Dex whispers back.

“How old is Malachy?” Nursey asks, assuming that this is the youngest.

“Two,” Dex replies. When Nursey grimaces, Dex nods. “Yeah.”

Tentatively, they step into the kitchen, hoping to get some of the hot buttered rum themselves.

“Colin,” Granny is saying, squeezing his forearm. “You can’t let her take them to Wisconsin.”

“Granny, I don’t even know if Malachy is  _ mine _ ,” Colin protests. “I could sue for custody of Ainsley and Thomas, but--”

He cuts off when he sees Nursey and Dex and goes pale.

“We’ll get the eggnog from the living room instead,” Dex says, backing away.

“Don’t tell anyone,” Colin says, and Nursey, despite all of his misgivings about Colin as a person, actually feels bad for him.

“Not a word,” Nursey promises, pulling Dex back into the living room.

They join Dex’s other siblings in the living room. Jamie has claimed one of the armchairs by himself and keeps throwing dried cranberries and pieces of popcorn at Iain’s head, where he’s sitting on the couch with Siobhan and Assumpta. Snowy is in the other armchair with Malachy still standing on him, babbling in two year old speak. Nursey can’t stop himself from scanning Malachy for some sign he’s related to the Poindexters. He’s kind of strawberry blond, but not ginger like Ainsley or Thomas.

When Nursey and Dex sit down on the floor in front of Assumpta’s legs, Ainsley immediately sprawls across their legs.

“Can we play hockey?” she asks.

“A pickup game with all the cousins?” Assumpta suggests, leaning over Dex and Nursey’s shoulders to tickle Ainsley’s tummy.

“Sounds like fun,” Snowy says, and Nursey has to wonder if he’s considering it an opportunity to whack Colin with either a stick or a puck.

“Okay, but you’re not allowed to play goalie,” Iain protests.

“Why not?” Ainsley asks.

“Because that’s what he gets paid to do in real life,” Dex explains, tickling one of her feet. She giggles and kicks him.

“You can get paid to play hockey?” Ainsley asks.

“Oh yeah,” Snowy agrees. “And I’m willing to not play goalie, as long as Will and Derek have to play on opposing teams.”

Nursey laughs while Dex looks put out.

It’s only a little while later that they turf Snowy and Assumpta out to their hotel, while the rest of them get ready for bed. Iain has given up entirely on having his own room back at any point in the near future and claims Jamie’s bed. Jamie sighs and lets himself get shuffled off to Assumpta and Siobhan’s room.

“So what’s Jamie’s deal?” Nursey asks, leaning against the ladder to Dex’s bed. Dex is going to be horribly cold, and he hates the fact he’s not really allowed to keep him warm.

“I don’t know,” Dex says. “He refuses to add anyone in the family on social media. I’m pretty sure he lives in Canada?”

“Seriously? That’s it?” Nursey asks.

“Yeah,” Dex says. He shrugs it off and leans against Nursey, burying his face in Nursey’s neck. “I’m really glad you’re here.”

“Me too,” Nursey says. “Should be fun to play hockey tomorrow.”

He feels Dex smile against his skin.

“Okay, so we’ve been together for about seven months now, so I think it’s time you tell me what all the lyrics are on your arm since you somehow managed to get a tattoo in your handwriting,” Dex says, sitting down on Iain’s bed. Nursey laughs and sits next to him, holding his arm out.

“This one says, ‘Love doesn’t discriminate between the sinners and the saints, it takes and it takes and it takes’,” Nursey says. Although that’s not quite true since “life” and “death” are written out above “love”, they’re just scratched out. “Then there’s the ‘this ink it travels from the page up my hand into my veins, choking on these stories I’ve told’ and ‘these colours used to wash right out but now they are a part of me’.”

“And you’ve actually lost the ability to tell what half of them say haven’t you?” Dex asks, tracing the words on Nursey’s forearm.

“Yeah,” Nursey agrees with a small smile. “Oh, this part says ‘got your back’.”

Dex rolls his eyes but looks fond when he presses a quick kiss to Nursey’s lips.

“So the song lyrics are from that one – it’s a Rise Against song, isn’t it?” Dex asks.

“The Black Market,” Nursey replies. He doesn’t really like punk rock, at all, although he’ll listen to it if Dex is in a bad mood and needs to listen to his music, but it took most of his self-control not to get all of the lyrics from that particular song as a tattoo.

“And what’s the other one?” Dex asks, tracing the words.

“Uh, they’re from  _ Hamilton _ ,” Nursey admits.

“Of course they are,” Dex says with a laugh.

They don’t mean to fall asleep still fully dressed, fit together like spoons in a drawer on Iain’s bed, but they do. Fortunately, Granny sends Assumpta to wake them up.

“Jesus guys, you’re gonna get yourselves beat up,” she says, closing the door quickly.

“Is it morning?” Dex asks, blinking sleepily.

“Yeah,” Assumpta says.

Nursey grumbles, but he gets up anyway, changing quickly and shuffling downstairs to get coffee.

“Morning dear,” Granny says, patting him on the arm.

“Hey Granny,” he says, pouring himself a cup of coffee and adding a splash of cream. He has to stop himself from getting Dex a cup too since Dex’s siblings are somewhere around.

“I’m sorry about your grandfather,” Granny says. “And your parents. You know you’re always welcome here, don’t you?”

“Yeah, thanks,” Nursey says, hugging her. She pats him on the cheek.

“You’re a sweet boy, Derek,” she says.

“Thanks, Granny,” he says, sitting down at the kitchen table to wait for breakfast. He wants to offer his assistance, but Granny has the same general reaction to seeing him in a kitchen that Bitty does, so he stays put. Siobhan is next into the kitchen and immediately starts helping Granny. She doesn’t have long limbs like Jamie or Dex or Assumpta. She’s stockier like Colin and Iain.

They end up bundling into Colin and Dex’s trucks after breakfast and meeting a large portion of the Poindexters at a local frozen pond. Nursey, Dex, and Snowy are the most comfortable on skates by far, but honestly it’s not saying much since Dex’s cousins – Quinn’s and Jim’s sons, the sheriff’s son and daughters, the lobster fisherman’s kids – and all their kids are fairly familiar with the concept of ice skating.

Ainsley is the youngest person to lace up, but she’s vehement about playing on a team with Nursey and Snowy, which makes Nursey feel a little warm and fuzzy inside.

“Have you noticed they’re kinda like the Weasleys?” Nursey asks Snowy as he skates by. Snowy has condescended to play defence with him. “There’s a million of them, they’ve all got red hair, and half of them are stocky while the other half are too tall and lanky.”

Nursey can see the light go off in Snowy’s eyes and he stares at him with a barely suppressed smile.

“You realise that makes us Harry and Hermione,” Snowy says, quietly enough no one can overhear them.

“I do have the hair for it,” Nursey mumbles, which gets Snowy to laugh.

“What are you two laughing at?” Dex asks, holding his stick across his shoulders. His cheeks are flushed pink from the cold and the blue of his beanie looks great with his hair and Nursey wants to just grab him and kiss him, but he feels that would go over poorly.

“Nothing, Ron,” Snowy says, stealing the puck from one of the cousins and breaking away.

Dex frowns after him and then takes after him to try and get the puck away. For the first time, Nursey kind of regrets always playing on the same line as Dex, because it’s delightful to watch him play hockey.

They spend that night at midnight mass, which Snowy and Nursey spend in the back trying not to fall asleep. Considering that the priest is one of Dex’s uncles, Nursey knows they’d get chewed out by Granny afterwards if they did.

==The Hockey Gays==

**Me:** why is mass at midnight on Christmas

**Jack Frost:** are you really texting under the pew right now

**Me:** so are you. I can see your phone

**Ginger Rogers:** you are so lucky all of our phones are on silent

**Parsnip:** what kind of weird blasphemous hell are you guys in?

**Bits:** Dex’s family is Catholic

**Ginger Rogers:** worse, my uncle is actually the priest

**Holsom:** yeah, I could never go for the whole celibacy thing

**Ranster:** yeah no shit

**Pieces:** Quebec is fairly Catholic

**Parsnip:** you’re a godless heathen though

**Parsnip:** no offence

**Salmon:** yeah, we just hang out with bigfoot over on the west coast.

**Me:** quick question – is everyone from the west coast really weird?

**Holsom:** yeah

**Ranster:** holy shit yes

**Parsnip:** Vegas is just kind of fucked up generally.

**Jack Frost:** are you still fighting your neighbour the mob boss about the lime tree?

==

Nursey puts down his phone and looks over at Snowy, who is as blank faced as ever. He meets Nursey’s eye and shrugs.

==Jack Frost==

**Me:** did you hook up with Kent Parson?

**Jack Frost:** when?

**Me:** ever?!??

**Jack Frost:** yes?

==

Nursey gapes at him until Dex smacks him in the leg and makes him face forward before they get yelled at.

==The Hockey Gays==

**Parsnip:** I thought you were Catholic, Sewick

**Jack Frost:** Eastern Orthodox and Catholic are really not the same thing. At all.

**Pieces:** they haven’t been since the eleventh century.

**Parsnip:** sorry Zimms I didn’t go to fancy school

**Bits:** no you just crashed college frat parties and lost miserably at beer pong

**Salmon:** Look, I’ve watched him lose a game of air hockey to his cat, I can’t really pretend to be surprised.

==

==Ginger Rogers==

**Me:** okay seriously how many people on the Hockey Gays group text has Kent Parson slept with?

**Ginger Rogers:** Three? Unless there’s something you’re not telling me

**Me:** how dare. [attached screenshot of Nursey’s phone background, a selfie of him kissing Dex on the cheek and looking completely fuckstruck]

**Ginger Rogers:** yeah yeah. Unless, you don’t think Ransom and Holster would

**Me:** nah, those two are so fucking vanilla

**Ginger Rogers:** please tell me you haven’t put a lot of thought into Ransom and Holster’s sex life

**Me:** …

**Me:** I mean, they used to bang in my old bed and I’m cursed with a writer’s imagination?

==

He looks up from his phone to see Dex laughing silently with his head bowed so it looks like he’s being devout.

==Jack Frost==

**Jack Frost:** are we going to go to hell for talking about this stuff at midnight mass on Christmas?

**Me:** buddy I will see you there.

==

* * *

Their first night back at the Haus, they barely make it up the stairs before Dex has his hands down Nursey’s pants and they’re naked before the door is properly closed.

“You know we never actually have to come out to your family,” Nursey says, after. He drapes one of the comforters over Dex, but is perfectly content to lay out in the air himself.

“Yeah that’ll be funny twenty years from now,” Dex mumbles. “When Siobhan wants to know why I’m in my forties and still have a roommate.”

“In a one bedroom house,” Nursey adds.

“Filing taxes jointly,” Dex continues. He snorts and presses his forehead against Nursey’s ribs. “Wearing matching wedding rings.”

Nursey knows he’s projecting into the future, but his heart still lurches with excitement. He’s also a little annoyed with himself. He was always adamant about how labels were archaic and pointless, how love was the important thing and who cared what anyone called them, marriage was a stupid institution, etc. But now he’s pretty sure he’d fight someone who called Dex anything other than his boyfriend and he can already see asking Bitty to make the pies for the wedding, which is so over the top he’s a little disgusted with himself.

“I love you,” he says.

“I love you too,” Dex replies. “And just so you know, I’d pick you over my family. Because obviously I’ll still have Granny and Assumpta regardless.”

“I know,” Nursey says, because he does know. He knows Dex would pick him, but he feels more than a little guilty about that. But he tries to reason with himself that Dex, unlike him, is a full on Kinsey 6 so any serious relationship he ever has is going to drive that wedge between him and his family. The least he can do is be there for him. “I just don’t want you to have to pick.”

“I know,” Dex says. “Which is part of the reason I love you.”

“Oh yeah?” Nursey asks. “What are the other reasons?”

“I don’t know, you look hot naked?” Dex replies, which gets him a smack on the ass. “And you write me love poems. And can map our future on the constellations on my skin.”

“I feel like you’re chirping me,” Nursey says, rolling over and pinning Dex to the bed.

“Me? No,” Dex says, but he’s smirking. Nursey kisses the smirk off his face, just glad they’re in a place where he can. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone was wondering, in my head Poindexterville is actually Jonesport ME which I picked at random off Google Maps, but then I did research and discovered that as I had mentioned in chapter one (before I picked a location) they do have to share a high school with the next town over, and they do have one of the largest lobstering industries in the state of Maine. 
> 
> Additionally, the largest religious group in Maine is Catholicism ranking in at 28% or something. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> As always, come cry with me on [tumblr](http://omgericzimmermann.tumblr.com).


	10. That's All

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I did some research about various hockey players, and at the level of the NHL, goalies aren't really allowed to be on-ice captains, which means that should this happen, they are required to have proxy captains who do ceremonial faceoffs and deal with officials during games. The first time this has happened since the 1940s was with Roberto Luongo of the Canucks (and no I didn't _cry_ when he got traded, but I was not happy either). I don't know if the same rules apply in the NCAA but I would assume it would be hard for a goalie captain to do faceoffs since they have to be in the fucking crease? So assume I did this research earlier and Chowder's been the captain, with Whiskey holding the A so he could do all of the faceoffs etc.
> 
> Also! Extreme warnings for homophobic assbaggery in the form of Colin Poindexter who has reached his full potential. 
> 
> And thanks always to my [beta.](http://catsilhouette.tumblr.com) This would not have been nearly as good if not for her.

Dex hates midterms, especially when they’re doing really well at hockey. They’re almost shoo-ins for the Frozen Four this year, and it’s got all of them stressed out. Chowder, Nursey, and Dex all want to make it because it’s going to help C’s prospects with signing, which would make him the third generation of Samwell grads in four years to go pro, and Nursey and Dex just want to go out on a high note. Whiskey and Tango want to make it because they’ve made it to the Frozen Four both their previous years of service on the SMH. The tadpoles are panicking because they don’t want to be the ones who fuck it up for the seniors – who are on their possible four year consecutive streak.

Dex especially hates his own playoff beard because it makes his face itch and it’s every bit as ginger as his hair. Nursey, of course, looks like he just stepped out of an HBO show because he’s that kind of asshole.

“Stop glaring at my facial hair,” Nursey protests.

“You conditioned it, didn’t you?” Dex asks, running his fingers over the wiry but surprisingly soft hair.

“Well, yeah, I asked Shitty for advice,” Nursey says. Dex grimaces at him and faces forward again on the bus.

“C, how’s your beard coming?” Nursey asks.

“Shut up, Nursey,” Chowder says.

“How does Farmer like your playoff beard?” Dex asks, because even when he’s miffed at Nursey, they can always find common ground in exactly two places – joint nudity and chirping Chowder, and since they’re on the bus, he’s pretty sure the other guys would shoot them for the nudity.

“She understands why but she also won’t kiss me until I shave,” Chowder admits.

“But beard burn is fun,” Whiskey says, leaning over his seat to join in the chirping of their captain.

“It’s fine on your thighs, but on your face it’s kind of obvious,” Dex says in a perfect deadpan.

Chowder chokes on his Gatorade and Whiskey cackles.

They make it to the Frozen Four.

Dex is actually kind of relieved that he can just concentrate on hockey. He doesn’t want to focus on the fact graduation is a month away or that he’s got finals, or that he has to figure out what the fuck he’s going to do with his life. All he knows is he doesn’t want to be in a situation where he has to wake up every morning and despair over his life choices. Well, that and he really wants to wake up with Nursey next to him.

When they get to St Paul, they don’t talk. No one does.

All of Chowder’s scouts are in the stands, watching. Dex can see his breath cloud in front of him in the rink. He can barely hear the crowd chattering because he’s just staring at the zamboni while it clears the ice. He can’t stop thinking about the fact this might be the last time he ever plays hockey. It might be the last time his skates touch the ice, the last time he plays with Nursey or Chowder, or Whiskey or Tango.

He revels in the smooth glide of the ice under his skates when the first line is called up. They’re playing Michigan and they’re a tiny liberal arts school from Massachusetts and they shouldn’t have made it this far. They shouldn’t have had three players go pro in four years. But they’re the defending champions, and, well, defence is what Dex does.

They beat Michigan 3-2 in overtime, which means the pressure is even worse.

They don’t talk in their hotel room at all. Nursey sits on the edge of one of the beds staring at the floor and Dex sits on the edge of the other staring at the bruise blooming across Nursey’s thigh from the check he took in the third period.

For the first time since Christmas, they sleep in different beds because they can’t afford the exertion.

Everyone is keyed up when they get to the rink the next morning. They’re playing Illinois who’ve got a good record. Chowder makes an aborted attempt at a motivational speech, and they march out to the ice. Dex feels like he’s on fire, the nervous energy making all his limbs tremble until he lines up. He takes a deep breath and glances down the line at Nursey, who winks. Dex grins back and turns to face the opposition. The d-man from Illinois is sizing him up. He’s a little bigger than Dex, but that’s never stopped Dex before. Besides, it’s his last hockey game.

He blows a kiss at his opposing d-man, who immediately looks nervous. Then the puck drops.

Whiskey barely loses the face-off, and as soon as the puck ends up with Dex’s opponent, Dex checks him, hard, and steals the puck, passing it to Tango. Tango passes to Whiskey, who’s going to get clobbered but Nursey neatly cuts off the guy getting in his way. Whiskey shoots.

They’re 1-0 by the end of the second period. It’s been brutal, and half of Illinois’ team is on the bench for a combination of illegal checks and injuries from Samwell’s perfectly legal ones. Dex counts four of their guys with various blood and bruises that came directly from him.

The third period starts and the first line is back up.

Dex ends up with the puck and manages to pass it to Nursey, who scores.

They end up sending three more of Illinois’ players to the trainer’s room defending their score. In the last minute, it looks like maybe one of their forwards is going to get a point, their 2 nd line d-men aren’t able to keep up with Illinois’ captain, the puck is flying towards the top corner, and Chowder reaches up calmly and bats it out of the air. The buzzer sounds.

The entire Samwell team slams into each other at centre ice, Chowder very quickly picked up and hoisted over their heads. Dex just wants to grab Nursey and kiss him, but they’ve still got their helmets on and are still being televised, but this doesn’t stop him from pulling Nursey into a tight hug. Fortunately, they’re blocked by the fact the rest of the team is also hugging them.

They get back to the hotel and Dex immediately grabs his razor.

“You should get a straight razor,” Nursey suggests, perching on the bathroom counter next to him.

“Why?” Dex asks, giving him a suspicious look.

“Because it’s hot,” Nursey replies. “And makes you look even more competent.”

“It’s still confusing to me that competency is a sexual thing for you,” Dex says.

“Your competency in bed is also very attractive,” Nursey says, leaning over to kiss Dex’s temple.

“I am still covered in shaving cream, and I hope to god you mean competent in a good way, not a ‘I get the job done but that’s it’ sort of way,” Dex replies.

Nursey shrugs while Dex rinses the last of the shaving cream off his face.

“You’re satisfactory,” Nursey says with a mischievous light in his eye.

“Is that a fucking challenge?” Dex asks.

“Yup,” Nursey agrees, popping the p.

Dex narrows his eyes.

By the time he finishes with Nursey, they both definitely need another shower, and Nursey came so hard the second time that he almost cried.

“Satisfactory?” Dex asks, sucking another hickey onto Nursey’s chest. When Nursey whines, Dex can’t resist a smug grin.

“I’m--” Nursey starts. His voice is rough, which makes Dex laugh. “I – I need to take a shower but I don’t think I can walk.”

Dex laughs again, tracing his tongue along one of Nursey’s tattoos.

“Oh god, you can’t do that right now,” Nursey pleads, and Dex stops immediately.

“Sorry,” he says, because it’s normally something Nursey likes and Dex likes the way Nursey’s skin tastes.

“It’s just – I already can’t walk and I think I won’t be able to move if I come again,” Nursey explains.

Dex snorts. “You’re the one who challenged me.”

“It was totally worth it, but we have to sit on a plane tomorrow,” Nursey replies. “Oh, and we should probably get the kegster rolling.”

“Yeah probably,” Dex agrees, finally not touching Nursey anymore. He sprawls out next to him. “I’ve been thinking about our dibs.”

“Oh yeah?” Nursey asks, lacing his fingers through Dex’s. Nursey’s hands are rough, and so warm, and his fingers are bent in odd ways from the way he holds his pens. For all Nursey’s disaster tendencies when it comes to manual labour, he’s still good with his hands.

“I think we should give them to Whiskey and Tango,” Dex says. He can sense Nursey’s frown even without looking at him. “Because since Foxtrot’s ACL got him off the LAX team and he’s gonna be the new manager and shit, then the three of them can have the attic if they want it and the other guys can have the three rooms on the main floor.”

“That’s actually a really good idea,” Nursey says.

“I have them sometimes,” Dex replies.

There’s a knock on the hotel room door then and they both glare at it. When they don’t answer, their phones buzz.

==Chris & Fred Astaire==

**Chris:** Hey are you guys in there? We’re meeting at the bar

**Fred Astaire:** yeah, C, just give us a second. We’ve got to shower.

**Chris:** didn’t you shower at the locker room??

**Me:** …

**Me:** also, are you going to tell us who you’re signing with when we’re out of the shower?

==

“You know if we take a shower together, it’ll take less time,” Nursey says.

“Are you sure about that?” Dex asks. He’s even more desperate to be all over Nursey than normal, because even though he knows they’re not breaking up at graduation or something stupid like that, everything feels like it’s ending. They just won the last game of hockey they’ll probably ever play, they’re about to graduate, and they’re going to go God knows where, and do God knows what, and –

“I love you,” Dex says, kissing Nursey with a healthy dose of desperation.

“Whoa, babe, are you okay?” Nursey asks.

“I’m just…scared of the future,” Dex replies. “Not our future, just, the future in general.”

“We’re gonna be okay,” Nursey promises. He sighs. “Come on, let’s take a very quick shower and then go find out where C’s moving.”

Dex agrees and Nursey, contrary to his earlier protests, can in fact walk. They shower quickly and get dressed, heading down to the bar. Everyone else on the team is celebrating and the wait staff at the bar looks concerned about this, but they haven’t got to the point of throwing them out yet. Someone’s got Chowder a bowl sized margarita, which is just a terrible choice, but he also looks incredibly happy. He’s happy enough that it’s infectious and Dex feels himself smiling while he and Nursey fall into seats at the table with Chowder, Whiskey, and Tango.

“Okay C, where are you going?” Nursey asks, leaning against the bench of their table with his arm slung casually around Dex’s shoulders.

“I – I got an offer,” Chowder says, slurping on his margarita. “But I have to talk to Caitlin.”

“Not the Sharks then,” Dex says, because Farmer is just as much of a Sharks fan as Chowder.

“No,” Chowder says. “I – I got an offer from the Canucks. And I think I’m gonna take it?”

“Hey congrats man!” Nursey says, clapping Chowder on the shoulder.

“Yeah,” Chowder says. He even looks happy about it.

“What are you gonna do when you have to play the Sharks?” Tango asks.

Chowder is silent for a moment, like he hadn’t considered that. “Cry?” he offers. “But like if it’s at the Shark Tank – I mean, I guess I’ll be playing at the Shark Tank anyway, which is kinda cool?”

“There you go, buddy,” Dex says, leaning around Nursey to pat Chowder on the shoulder.

* * *

They’re all hung over on the plane the next morning, even the tadpoles who legally should not have been drinking. Dex spends most of the flight sleeping on Nursey’s shoulder with the screen shut over their window so Nursey doesn’t accidentally look out it.

The next major event they have to look forward to is the team awards dinner. Dex keeps feeling a lump in his throat as he does up Nursey’s tie and helps him straighten his pocket square.

“Hey, are you okay?” Nursey asks, bumping his nose against Dex’s cheek and kissing him on the corner of the mouth.

“Yeah,” Dex says. “I’m just gonna miss all of this.”

“You’re not allowed to miss me,” Nursey says, smoothing the shoulders of Dex’s suit. “Because you’re stuck with me.”

“Yeah,” Dex agrees, kissing him quickly. They’ve still got finals, but then they have to put on their caps and gowns and cross the stage and he’s not really sure he’s ready for the real world. Jack and Shitty graduated and went straight to law school or the Falconers, Lardo had Shitty to fall into, a soft place to land and get her bearings in the real world. Holster signed with the Schooners and Rans went straight to med school. Bitty got to move in with Jack and start his own bakery. Chowder’s going off to Vancouver, and Farmer’s going with him. And Dex and Nursey are…totally untethered. If he were being poetic like Nursey, he’d say they were at sea without an anchor, maybe heading for a storm.

“We should go,” Nursey says, running a hand through Dex’s carefully combed hair. “I want to watch Whiskey pretend to look surprised when he gets the C.”

Dex smiles. “Yeah,” he agrees. “And then we’ve got to give them our dibs.”

“Right,” Nursey says. “Come on.”

He leads Dex out of the Haus by the hand, and they take their time walking to the president’s house for the dinner. Samwell in late spring is beautiful, one of Dex’s favourite times.

It’s a pleasant walk and they make it in good time. They clean up nicely as a group, he notices. Chowder has even left off the Sharks gear. Dex imagines it’s partially because he feels disloyal wearing it now.

No one is surprised when Whiskey gets the C, and Tango looks incredibly proud, for once with no questions in his expression or speech. Dex is definitely surprised when he and Nursey get awards for best teamwork, and they both laugh when one of the other guys from their year points out it’s because they started dating.

The kegster that follows is fucking epic. Jack, Snowy, and Holster can’t attend because they’re still in playoffs, but Bitty, Assumpta, Shitty, Lardo, and even Ransom show up.

“I’m so proud of you, baby bro,” Assumpta says, pulling Dex into a huge hug.

“I haven’t graduated yet,” Dex points out, patting her awkwardly on the back.

“Yeah, but give it a week,” she replies. She drags Nursey out of the ether and hugs him as well. “I’m proud of you too, Derek.”

“Thanks,” Nursey says, grinning. Dex is really happy they’re friends, and that he doesn’t have to worry about it at all.

They spend most of the party making out in the corner because they’re too drunk to do anything else. Not that Dex wouldn’t like to, but Shitty wanders by at some point shouting about consent being impossible when the parties involved are drunk, and they’re really quite drunk.

“Bro, you’re like  _ dating _ me,” Nursey says at some point, his eyes glazed but alight with joy.

“I know!” Dex replies. “I’ve been there for all of it!”

“But like you’re so pretty!” Nursey replies, his hands on Dex’s waist.

“No, you’re pretty,” Dex protests.

“You’re both fucking pretty okay?” Shitty replies from nearby while Bitty laughs. This brings him to Shitty’s attention. “And you, smallest and brightest of all the bros!”

“Me?” Bitty asks.

“When the fuck are you marrying that boy?” Shitty asks.

Bitty is a deer, Shitty’s voice the headlights.

“Uh,” Bitty says. “Like doing the paperwork or having the ceremony?”

“What’s the difference?” Ransom asks, leaning on Shitty’s shoulder. Neither he nor Holster have engagement rings, Dex notices. He’s going to want an engagement ring.

“I mean, especially with international marriages – which you should probably be aware of Ransom – it’s just a lot easier to do all the paperwork in Quebec or Ontario or whatever,” Bitty says. “Especially if you have to, like, work out the dual citizenship stuff.”

There’s a moment of silence while they all stare at Bitty. As the silence goes on, Bitty gets brighter red.

“Bits, are you and Pieces married?” Nursey asks, gaping at Bitty.

“Legally?” Bitty squeaks.

Shitty screams, which quickly turns into a wail of despair that draws the rest of their group over. Shitty curls up in a ball on the floor and pulls out his phone. Dex isn’t sure what he’s doing until his own phone buzzes in his pocket.

==SMH Group Text==

**Shitty:** YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARDS GOT MARRIED AND DIDN’T INVITE ME??????????????

**Shitty:** ???????????????????

**Adam:** bruh, chill, we’re just engaged.

**Justin:** not us babe

**Larissa:** Shitty, stop screaming

**Shitty:** NO

**Eric:** Jack, this is directed at us

**Jack:** oh.

**Jack:** we just did paperwork, Shits. I promise. The party’s this summer.

**Shitty:** HOW COULD YOU

**Me:** when did this happen exactly?

**Jack:** we were going to tell you guys at Thanksgiving but we didn’t want to steal Ransom and Holster’s moment.

**Shitty:** YOU BASTARDS HAVE BEEN MARRIED FOR SIX MONTHS AND YOU DIDN’T FUCKING TELL ME??????????????????????????????????

**Eric:** IT WAS SO I COULD VISIT BOB AND ALICIA IN MONTREAL WITHOUT IMMIGRATION TRYING TO DEPORT ME OKAY

**Eric:** SHITTY I HAVE BEEN PLANNING MY WEDDING SINCE I WAS EIGHT YEARS OLD DO YOU REALLY THINK I WOULDN’T INVITE YOU NOW WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP SHRIEKING YOU’RE UNNERVING THE TADPOLES

==

Shitty finally stops screaming and Dex and Nursey exchange looks of relief.

“It was also because Jack gets nervous about paperwork and there was no reason to hold the party and do the paperwork at the same time,” Bitty says in a calm, reasonable voice.

“Wait, can we still call you Bitty? Or do we have to find another Zimmermann related nickname?” Ransom asks.

“Both parties keep their birth names in Quebec,” Bitty says with as much dignity as he can considering Shitty is hanging onto his legs and making sniffling noises.

“Oh, that’s chill,” Nursey says. Which of course has Dex thinking about it. He’s sort of attached to his last name. And Nursey, for all he doesn’t like his parents, is just as attached to his. He supposes they could hyphenate, but really, when they’ve got rings, it doesn’t really matter.

“Do I get to be Jack’s best person?” Shitty asks.

“Sure honey,” Bitty says, petting Shitty’s hair. Shitty nods against Bitty’s shin and Bitty looks over at Lardo for help.

“Hey Shits, come here, I need to destroy you at flip cup,” Lardo says, hauling him off the floor.

“Can we just have sex instead?” Shitty mumbles.

“Brah, you know the rules about crying sex,” Lardo replies, steering him over to the table.

“But seriously man, congrats,” Ransom says, clapping Bitty on the shoulder.

“Thanks,” Bitty says, unable to stop himself from smiling into his red plastic solo cup.

“Who all knew?” Dex asks, leaning heavily against Nursey’s chest.

“Bob and Alicia,” Bitty says. “They were our witnesses. And Assumpta.”

“You knew?” Dex demands, rounding on his sister who has been hanging out at the edge of their conversation.

“I stopped by to say hi right after they got married,” Assumpta explains. “Jack was kind of out of it and informed me I couldn’t come in because they were celebrating.”

“What kind of out of it?” Nursey asks.

“He was naked except for the tea towel in front of his junk,” Assumpta replies with a smug smirk directed at Bitty.

“Hell yeah, get it Bits,” Ransom says, holding up his hand for a fistbump.

“I do on the regular, but thanks,” Bitty says with a smirk that makes Dex laugh.

The news of Jack and Bitty’s legal status is the most exciting thing to come out of the party. Dex can’t stop thinking about it the next day, or the rest of the week. He’s happy for Jack and Bitty, of course, and for Ransom and Holster and their engagement. He’s looking forward to going to their weddings. At Jack and Bitty’s he’ll get to do things like meet Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, meet Bitty’s family. At Ransom and Holster’s, their parents and sisters will be around enthusing excitedly, along with most of the Schooners, who he hasn’t met.

But as it currently stands, his own wedding will have to be a little less. Granny and Assumpta and Snowy will be the only people who represent from his family (and he doesn’t dwell too much on the fact he’s started thinking of Andrew Fucking Sewick as his brother-in-law). No one would be there from Nursey’s. They’ll just have the SMH team. Which is sort of fine, but a really vocal part of him wants to be able to hold Nursey’s hand in public around people in Maine without worrying it’s somehow going to get back to Colin.

The family Poindexter shows up for graduation a day early and are kept far away from the Haus.

“I mean, we don’t really want to show them how we’ve been living for the past two years right?” Nursey points out while they pack. Dex doesn’t really know what they’re doing tomorrow, aside from putting their things in the bed of his truck and dropping by Nursey’s parents’ house in New York to get the rest of his stuff.

“I think Granny would collapse in shock and horror,” Dex replies, putting the last of his books in a box. Half of them are Nursey’s, he realises. And one of the items in the box is Nursey’s wallet.

He takes it out and tosses it to the bed, where it falls open.

He forgets about it for a while as they keep packing. He remembers suddenly as he’s stuffing his clothes into a duffle bag. He picks it up, fully intending to throw it at Nursey, but he catches sight of the ID. He frowns and slides it out of the leather sleeve and stares.

“Derek,” he says.

“Yeah?” Nursey asks without turning around. He’s pulling things out of the closet.

“When did you get a driver’s license?” Dex asks.

Nursey stills and turns, looking torn between guilt and pride. “I was gonna surprise you,” he says.

“Seriously?” Dex asks, starting to laugh. He puts the license back in Nursey’s wallet and hands it over.

“Yeah, see I had a really good teacher,” Nursey says, pressing against him so that Dex’s knees are being taken out from under him by the edge of the bed. “Even taught me how to drive stick.”

He finishes this statement by popping open Dex’s jeans.

“Did he?” Dex asks, his response coming out a little breathless because Nursey’s dropping to his knees and kissing up his stomach.

“Mmhmm,” Nursey agrees. “I might be a little biased though.”

“Yeah?” Dex asks.

“Well, see, I kind of fell in love with him,” Nursey replies.

* * *

They’re a little late to the family dinner they’re having. Snowy gives them a knowing look as they apologise, and Assumpta kicks him under the table. They sit down and Dex is profoundly thankful he kept all of the hickeys well below the lines of Nursey’s clothes, because Colin definitely noticed Assumpta kicking Snowy, even if he didn’t notice the reason.

Dex realises belatedly that they don’t have a cover story. Siobhan wants to know what their individual plans are once they graduate, but their plans are mostly non-existent aside from “being in the same place” and they can’t really tell his family that. He hears Nursey babble something that sounds polished because Nursey is a writer and that’s what he does. Siobhan accepts whatever Nursey says as reasonable and they keep eating. Finally it’s late enough that Dex and Nursey have to go back to the Haus to get some sleep before the ceremony the next morning.

When they wake up the morning, Dex is nervous. Except, nervous isn’t really the right word. It’s the same feeling he had before their final game – like he’s on fire, the embers crackling under his skin while he’s being dragged into the future whether he wants it or not. Anticipation, maybe. Nervous anticipation.

They meet up with Chowder and Farmer at Lake Quad, along with their various family members. They meet Chowder’s sister for the first time, and she spends the whole conversation staring completely dumbstruck at Nursey in a way that makes Dex think Chowder will later be getting an earful about how dare he not tell her he had pretty friends. Chowder and Farmer have both got the lecture not telling anyone in Dex’s family about him and Nursey, and apparently they’ve applied it to their own families as well. It makes Dex almost mad, because he kind of wants to grab Nursey in front of Chowder’s sister and explain that Nursey is so very taken. But he doesn’t get to.

Eventually, they’re all shuffled off to their appropriate spots in the procession, lining up alphabetically. Dex says goodbye to the others and takes his spot near the back of the line. Nursey is fifteen or so people in front of him, the gold honours tassel glinting in the sun. Dex’s own honours tassel is trying to fall off.

The commencement speaker is long winded and awful, and Dex is pretty sure he’s going to get up on stage and punch the guy in the face if he doesn’t stop talking soon. But Nursey’s sitting the row in front of him and keeps turning around to look at him, a happy smile on his face.

“Okay, who’s the super hot guy staring at you?” the girl sitting next to Dex asks at a whisper the third time Nursey’s turned around.

“Oh, that’s my boyfriend,” Dex says, unable to keep himself from smiling.

“He’s fucking  _ hot _ ,” the girl says with definite appreciation in her voice.

“Damn right,” Dex agrees.

“Nicely done,” the girl says, grinning at him.

“Thanks,” Dex says.

Finally the commencement speaker stops (the clapping is loud because it makes the guy get off the stage faster) and then they get to walk. Of their group, the first to cross the stage is of course Christopher Chow, B.S. in biology with a concentration in marine biology, summa cum laude. Chowder shakes the hand of the dean and the president and collects his diploma with a standard huge Chowder grin on his face. Dex snickers because he knows Chowder’s got a Canucks jersey on under his robes, since he’s the sort of person to go around wearing his own jersey in public.

Next is Caitlin Farmer, B.A. in communications, cum laude. Chowder whoops and hollers for her from his seat and Dex can hear him shout “that’s my girlfriend!” in a really proud voice.

It’s a long while later that Nursey is finally up. Dex can’t help but shout for him, but without the relationship addendums Chowder had added. Derek Nurse, B.A. in English with a creative writing concentration, cum laude, accepts his diploma from the dean and throws a wink back at Dex as he sits in his seat. Dex grins at him and gets in line to get his own diploma. William Poindexter, B.S. in Engineering, summa cum laude, gets him a whole lot of hooting and hollering from his family in the back, as well as Nursey, Chowder, and Farmer. He’s going to miss this when Chowder and Farmer are living on the other side of the continent in a different country.

As soon as the ceremony is over, they break for pictures by the Pond, all four of them together. Then Dex has to take pictures with his family, Nursey is dragged into pictures with his family, they’re being encouraged to come back and spend one last summer in Maine before they make a break for the real world, and then they’re back at the Haus, throwing their things into the truck.

“Babe, you look super hot in formal wear,” Nursey says, running his hands up Dex’s sides while they start carrying things down the attic stairs.

“You think I look hot in grease stained coveralls,” Dex points out, but he can’t stop himself from smiling and turning around to kiss him.

“You’re so hot I bet you’d look good naked,” Nursey says, grinning into the kiss and then carrying one of the boxes downstairs.

“You’re flirtier than usual, babe,” Dex informs him, picking up his own box and following him down the stairs. They’re almost halfway down the main staircase when Nursey turns to grin at him.

“Come on, it’s our last chance to have sex in the Haus,” he says. “Like, ever.”

Dex is about to chirp him – or drag him back upstairs and have sex with him, he can’t really decide – when a voice decides for him.

“It’s your last chance to do what?”

Dex’s blood goes cold while his heart rate skyrockets. Combined with the fiery sensation still burning under his skin, he suddenly feels like he’s got a fever. Because that was Colin’s voice.

Dex’s knees are shaking as Colin comes into view at the bottom of the stairs. He looks shocked, genuinely shocked, like someone’s just slapped him in the face. But there’s still disbelief in his eyes. Like he’s maybe hoping he misheard.

“Uh,” Nursey says.

Dex is pretty sure he’s shaking all over while he takes a deep breath. “I think you heard him perfectly, Colin,” he says. He’s freaking out too much to speak loudly, but in the otherwise silent Haus, it gets to Colin anyway.

“I was giving you a chance to change your fucking answer, Will,” Colin says, and Dex can see the disbelief melt away from his face.

“Yeah, well, sorry, Colin, but I’m fucking gay,” Dex says. His voice is uneven this time, but certain words come out loudly, with particular emphasis on “gay.”

If he were poetic like Nursey, he’d be visualising his relationship with Colin as a bridge. Nursey’s statement was the gasoline; Dex’s statement is the lit match.

“No,” Colin says, completely flat.

Dex wants to look at Nursey, wants to see how he’s taking it, but he can’t break his staring match with Colin.

“Derek and I have been in a relationship for a year,” Dex replies. He notices he’s moving in an absent way, stepping off the last stair and getting close enough to Colin that he can stare down at him. The match has dropped, hit the gasoline.

Colin’s face contorts into the bitter rage that Dex has always known was there.

“No,” Colin repeats, and Dex is aware of being grabbed by the front of the shirt. “My baby brother doesn’t get to be a fucking fag.”

Dex starts to growl at him, not sure what words he wants to use, but he’s being slammed into a wall.

“Do you fucking understand me?” Colin demands.

“Get your fucking hands off me,” Dex spits, breaking Colin’s grip on his shirt and shoving him away. The flames are crackling merrily, burning along the planks of wood that make up the bridge.

“What’s Granny going to say?” Colin shouts. “Or anyone else in the family? They’re never going to accept you if you keep this up!”

“Granny still likes me just fine!” Dex shouts back. “She likes Derek too! In fact, she likes the fact we’re together!”

Colin recoils like Dex has just punched him in the face. The bridge is entirely engulfed in flame.

“Will,” Nursey says in a very quiet voice, his fingers brushing the back of Dex’s arm. It’s probably intended as a gesture of support, but Dex is seething.

“Oh my god,” Colin says, suddenly horrified. “Oh my god, I left you alone with my  _ children-- _ ”

And then Dex does punch him in the face. As Colin’s nose starts spewing blood down his face, the bridge crumbles to ash.

Dex doesn’t stay to justify anything to Colin; he picks up the box he’d been carrying and turns to leave. But he is aware of motion, like Colin’s coming after him. There’s an alarming crash and Dex turns. Colin is pressed to the wall with Nursey’s arm across his throat, holding him still. There’s hatred burning in both their eyes.

“Listen to me very closely,” Nursey says in a perfectly enunciated voice. “If you  _ ever _ say anything like that about anyone, I will find out, I will know, and I will break your jaw so badly you will eat through a straw for the rest of your life. Do we understand each other?”

“Don’t touch me,” Colin growls.

Nursey lets up the pressure on his throat for a second and then slams him back into the wall. Dex can do nothing but watch, feeling a surge of affection for Nursey.

“Do we understand each other,” Nursey repeats.

Colin searches his face, and whatever he sees there, he obviously doesn’t like. Dex kind of wants to hit him again.

“As long as you stay the fuck away from my family,” Colin spits.

No, Dex  _ really _ wants to punch him again.

Nursey beats him to it and Colin staggers out of the Haus with a busted nose and black eye. As he heads off to the car parked in front of the Haus, Dex can see Siobhan sitting in the front seat, Iain in the back. In no time, he can see them start reacting to Colin’s recounting of the incident inside the Haus. He’d probably come to the Haus to help them pack, Dex realises.

“Hey Will?” Nursey says. He’s breathing hard, seething still. “Don’t tell Snowy I just hit Colin. I want to keep my dibs for later.”

Dex snorts a laugh that almost immediately dissolves into crying. Nursey grabs him, wrapping strong arms around him, pulling him down to New Couch. They sit there just holding each other for what’s probably an hour but feels much longer.

Dex expected this from Colin. He expected it to go this poorly. But he hadn’t imagined he was going to hit him. His fist is still covered in Colin’s blood where he’s holding the back of Nursey’s shirt tightly.

“I guess I was just hoping we could cut  _ him _ out of the family, not me,” Dex mumbles into Nursey’s shoulder.

“I know,” Nursey says.

“But Siobhan and Iain are going to go with Colin, no questions asked,” Dex says.

“And you’ve still got Assumpta and Granny, and me,” Nursey says. “And Jamie’s probably a wild card.”

Dex snorts. They stay on the couch a while longer, Nursey updating the SMH Group Text and the Hockey Gays on their status. Dex silences his phone to keep from getting the notifications. Eventually, he pulls out his phone and ignores the dozen messages of support and ire towards his brother. He taps the Facebook app and goes to his profile, tapping on update info. He taps the relationship status widget and adds Nursey to it.

Nursey looks over at him as soon as the request for approval pings on his phone. He doesn’t say anything, but leans over and kisses him softly. Dex gives him a quick smile and scrolls down his settings. Colin and Siobhan have disappeared from his “family” section, and when he searches for Siobhan, he’s got the option to “send friend request.” He snorts.

“What?” Nursey asks.

“Siobhan and Colin unfriended me,” he says.

“I’m sorry, babe,” Nursey says.

“It’s not like it’s your fault,” Dex points out. Nursey makes a noise of disagreement. “It’s not. It’s not your fault in any possible way.”

Nursey kisses him briefly on the neck. Dex smiles, feeling a little better about it.

Then a new notification pops up.

_ Jamie Poindexter accepted your friend request! _

Dex frowns at it and taps. Jamie isn’t friends with anyone in the family on social media. His profile picture is innocuous, a picture of him at some party wearing a normal button down shirt and holding a glass of wine. The cover photo is of the St Lawrence River in Montreal, where Dex is pretty sure he lives.

But the most recent picture is of Jamie in an outfit that wouldn’t have been out of place in the 1920s, apparently juggling bottles of expensive alcohol on a stage, backed by a troupe of burlesque dancers. The caption is “just another typical day at work.”

Dex covers his mouth as he scrolls through Jamie’s Facebook feed. There’s Jamie at the Montreal pride parade, Jamie with one of the girls from the burlesque troupe at a tattoo parlour, Jamie in goddamn professional level drag.

“Oh my god,” Dex says, unable to stop himself from scrolling, each picture and status getting more delighted as he goes.

“What?” Nursey asks.

Dex just hands him the phone. Nursey bursts out laughing as he scrolls and quickly hands Dex his phone back. Dex is pretty sure he’s sending Jamie a friend request himself, and sure enough, he and Jamie suddenly have one mutual friend.

“I know it’s not a lot, but you’ve got Granny and Assumpta and fucking Jamie, so,” Nursey says.

“And you,” Dex reminds him. He kisses him soundly and stands collecting the last box and his backpack. “Come on. Let’s go.”

Nursey picks up his last box, his satchel, and follows Dex outside to the truck. They put the boxes in the back and straighten the tarp over all of them. Then, even though Nursey’s giving him weird looks, Dex climbs into the passenger side. He buckles his seatbelt and passes the keys to Nursey, who looks confused, but starts the truck perfectly on the first try.

“So where are we going?” Nursey asks, fiddling with the stereo. Dex seizes the aux cord and puts on his 1940s big band playlist because it’s really the only one they can completely agree on. “We could go visit Jamie, and probably the Zimmermanns, in Montreal. We could go steal a bunch of shit from my parents, we could go visit Jack and Bits and Assumpta and Snowy in Providence, head out to the west coast and see Rans and Holster and help C and Farmer get set up in Vancouver. I’ve got a house in Vermont, I guess? Where do you want to go?”

Dex considers all their options for a long moment, but in the end he decides he doesn’t really care. He leans across the bench and pulls Nursey in for a passionate kiss before leaning back to his side, taking one last look at the Haus, and saying, “Just drive.” 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this is the last chapter of the main story. There will be an epilogue. Thank you all so much for your support and kind messages and for reading this story.
> 
> As always, I am (probably already) crying on [tumblr.](http://omgericzimmermann.tumblr.com)


	11. An Afterword

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for sticking with this story through to the bitter end. You're all phenomenal and I love you.
> 
> And thanks to my beta, [Catsilhouette.](http://catsillhouette.tumblr.com)

It’s a morning in July that Derek wakes up in their sunlit bedroom and realises he’s deliriously happy. He knows why it’s this day – it’s July 5th. The windows are open and there’s a breeze blowing through their curtains. The smells of coffee and bacon are wafting from downstairs, and Will’s hair is tickling Derek’s chest. One of the cats is lying on his leg, the other on the small of Will’s back.

It’s July, so Will doesn’t have to teach classes at the college. He wouldn’t let Derek pay off his student loans, but he had let him pay for grad school, which made Derek happy. Derek’s publisher tends to get mad at him in the summers because Derek can’t be assed to work very hard since summers are the time he really gets to spend with Will. They’re also the times Will spends planning out his lectures and syllabi, particularly for his class “physics for English majors” which Derek has been reliably informed usually start with a comment that yes, he knows how to explain complicated science to humanities people since his husband is Derek Nurse – yes that Derek Nurse.

But getting Will up in the summers is next to impossible, so Derek has to play on the fact there are the smells of cooking coming from downstairs.

“Babe, you’ve gotta get up,” Derek says, kissing the crown of Will’s head. Will shakes his head, tightening his hand on Derek’s hip, effectively digging the metal of his wedding ring into Derek’s flesh. “No, come on, the kitchen’s on fire.”

“Good, I wanted to remodel it anyway,” Will mumbles.

“No, come on,” Derek says, sliding out from under his arm and standing. Either the cats or Will hiss at him. He can’t be sure.

Derek pulls on a shirt and a pair of sweatpants and throws another at Will.

“I’m serious about remodelling the kitchen,” Will says, finally deigning to sit up and put on something more than boxers.

“I know,” Derek says.

“No, don’t say ‘I know’ in that tone of voice,” Will protests. “That’s the ‘I know, Will, you’re going to start a project and then never actually finish it’ voice. That’s the tone of voice you used before you gave me complete control of the garage.”

“Who me?” Derek asks, grinning at him.

Will narrows his eyes at him and slumps down the stairs to the kitchen. Derek actually kind of likes their kitchen, especially when it’s full of food like it is right then. There’s a plate of bacon, a stack of waffles, and a fresh pot of coffee.

“Waffles?” Derek asks, raising his eyebrow.

“Pancakes require too much finesse,” Ainsley replies, hopping up onto the counter and drenching her own stack of waffles in syrup.

Derek nods and doesn’t laugh, pouring himself a cup of coffee. He also has issues with pancakes (Will despairs at both of them for it) but he had hoped Ainsley would get Will’s cooking skills.

He’s pretty sure the day she turned up on their doorstep will be forever burned into his brain. It was just a normal day, Will had just got home from the college, he was working on his latest novel – a spy novel because why the fuck not (“Because you’re a romantic slice of life writer!” his publisher had exclaimed in despair before actually reading the rough draft and quietly rescinding his statements) – and they had just sat down to dinner when there was a knock on the door.

It had taken a moment for him to recognise Ainsley, since it had been eight years at the time. She’d also shaved half her head, tortured the rest of her hair to stick straight, ringed her eyes in heavy black liner, was wearing chipped black nail polish, and all black clothing. All she had with her was a backpack and a pair of hockey skates slung over her shoulder. Derek wouldn’t have been overly concerned with her fashion choices – he’d seen pictures of both Assumpta and Snowy when they were teenagers – except that Ainsley was thirteen at the time.

“Hey babe?” Derek had called back into the house while he and Ainsley simply stared at each other.

Will had joined them in the doorway, before gaping at Ainsley in shock.

“So you guys are gay or something, right?” Ainsley had asked.

“We’ve been made, grab the go bags,” Derek had said, taking a sip of his wine. Will had smacked him in the arm and brought Ainsley into the house.

Ainsley hadn’t explained her presence, just sat on the living room floor and let the cats crawl over her. Derek had been the one to call Granny. She’d been relieved that they knew where Ainsley was, since apparently Colin had kicked her out after he caught her kissing a girl. Since Jamie lived across an international border and Assumpta had kids of her own, Ainsley had come to them. She’d later confided in Derek that they were actually her first choice, and she’d just told Assumpta and Jamie that to spare their feelings. Shitty was the one who dealt with the adoption paperwork, and then Derek just kept him on retainer for the sake of the fact he happens to be a fairly successful novelist. That was four years ago, now.

“What time are people coming?” Ainsley asks, feeding one of the cats a piece of bacon while Derek and Will lean against the other counters to eat their own breakfasts.

“I think Jack and Bitty should be here by noon,” Derek says. “You remember when Ransom and Holster are supposed to get here?”

“I think they should be here around three?” Will offers, reaching for his phone to check. He doesn’t find it, though since his phone is still resting on the bedside table upstairs. “Shitty and Lardo are driving in a caravan with Snowy and Assumpta et cetera so they should be a little longer.”

Snowy had been traded to the Bruins a few years ago, and Assumpta was happy to move back to Boston as far as Derek knew. She also liked the fact it put her that much closer to him and Will.

“And Chowder and Farmer are supposed to be here around two,” Derek says.

“Can you even call her Farmer anymore?” Ainsley asks. “I mean, didn’t she change her name when they got married?”

“Look, their names are Chris and Caitlin Chow and that’s way too many Cs,” Derek says while Will laughs.

“They could’ve spelled Kevin’s name with a C instead of a K,” Ainsley replies, knowing it’s going to send Derek off on a rant about linguistics, which it does. When he’s talked himself out, Will is cackling and Ainsley is wearing the trademark Poindexter smirk.

“Don’t you chirp me,” Derek protests, refilling his coffee cup.

“But it’s funny,” Ainsley says, grinning at him. Her eyes widen. “Oh! And Coach Braden wanted me to ask you if you wouldn’t mind assisting this season since Coach Kinsey is going to not be pregnant in a month.”

“Yeah of course,” Derek agrees. Typically he coaches the under-15 teams in his downtime, but Coach Braden – the head hockey coach for both men’s and women’s at Ainsley’s high school – has the exact same hockey background Derek does, except that his team lost to Derek’s in his sophomore year in the finals. So it’s not like Derek isn’t on par.

They’ve manged to get dressed and clean the kitchen by the time the first knock comes on the door. Ainsley slides down the hall in her socks to open the door and reveal Jack, Bitty, and their children. Six year old twins they’d spent a long time trying to acquire. Tommy, the less outgoing of the two, clings to Bitty’s hand and a stuffed bunny. Madeline, much more gregarious, bounds into the house wearing a Habs jersey that advertises for Zimmermann 1 and allows herself to be scooped up by Ainsley, the two of them plotting about how they’ll play for Les Canadiennes together by the time Ainsley’s the captain and Maddie is the top draft pick for the CWHL.

“Do you have a hockey nickname yet, hon?” Bitty asks, handing Tommy off to Jack so he can say hi properly.

“They just call me Pins,” Ainsley says. “Or, like, Pinterest or Pinwheel or something. Anything Pin related.”

“Why Pins?” Jack asks, frowning but looking amused.

“P-N,” Ainsley says with a shrug. “They tried for Peen, but like, who wants that in their lives really?”

“She says to her gay uncles and married fathers,” Derek comments.

Ainsley shrugs.

Snowy and Assumpta are next to show up, their kids immediately tackling Derek and Will in greeting, hugging Bitty and Jack, and then disappearing into the den with Ainsley, Maddie, and Tommy.

“See, if we all lived in the same city, I would have an automatic babysitter,” Assumpta grumbles, hugging Derek and Will. “Since your kid is seventeen.”

“I would not trust her with your children,” Will replies.

“I heard that!” Ainsley shouts from the living room.

“Is she still mad at you guys about the Juniors thing?” Jack asks, leaning against the hallway wall with them.

“Eh,” Derek says with a shrug. “I think she’s getting used to the idea of getting a college degree first.”

“Because I don’t know if Georgia called you,” Jack says, and Derek grimaces. He’s glad Jack is still friends with Georgia Martin, even if he got traded to the Habs and played well enough for them that they retired his jersey number when he retired last year. Not that any of them were surprised, since Jack was the captain who brought the Stanley Cup back to Canada for the first time in thirty years, and the man drips Olympic gold, but that’s neither here nor there.

“Look, we’re not going to say no,” Will says. “And if a team wants her without her playing from the Juniors, we’ll let her go, but she at least has to graduate high school.”

“Yeah,” Derek agrees, even though he gets nervous even thinking about the phone call with Georgia. Because nothing says fun like hearing the head scout for Team USA’s women’s hockey tell you they want your seventeen year old adopted daughter for the Olympics next year.

“Good,” Jack says. He nods decisively and goes to help Shitty and Lardo carry their things into the house. Their collection of foster kids join the others in the living room, especially the fourteen year old girl they picked up recently, who Derek is pretty sure is crushing on Ainsley hard.

“So, Larissa,” Bitty says, leaning on her shoulder. “Are you ever going to make an honest man out of Shits?”

Lardo considers for a second. “No,” she says decisively.

“The whole institution of marriage is wicked fucked, brah,” Shitty calls from the next room.

“All of your friends are married!” Snowy reminds him.

“I know,” Shitty says. “It’s just what I tell myself to keep from crying because she won’t marry me.”

They all laugh and Lardo rolls her eyes fondly. It’s a little while later that Ransom and Holster show up. They say their hellos and then Holster immediately starts chatting with Jack, Snowy, and Ainsley about hockey. Derek wonders if they’re responsible for conditioning Ainsley to think hockey was the only possible course of life. Will’s a professor, he’s a writer, but Ainsley’s been around Stanley Cup winning hockey players for most of her formative years, and can casually refer to her uncles Jack, Adam, Chris, and Drew like it’s no big deal, and then there’s the fact that all of the kids of the Samwell Men’s Hockey Team have become honorary grandkids to the Zimmermanns, and so Ainsley can show her friends and her team pictures of her with Bad Bob Zimmermann.

Chowder and Farmer are the last to arrive, Kevin sprinting into the living room to hang out with Maddie and Tommy. Much like Maddie, he’s wearing his dad’s jersey, the Sharks teal contrasting painfully with the red of the Habs jersey Maddie’s wearing as they tackle each other into a hug with the enthusiasm only the children of Chris Chow and Eric Bittle could muster.

“So, Bits, what kind of pie are we having?” Derek asks, leaning against the wall next to Will, who immediately drops his arm around Derek’s hips. The casual affection they have never stops making Derek happy. He doesn’t think it’s ever going to go away.

“Don’t say that word around the kids they will hear you and know,” Bitty says in a low, threatening tone with a horrifying smile on his face. “And probably like six of them.”

“Sorry, my bad,” Derek says, trying not to laugh because Bitty still looks dire.

“Who’s hosting next year?” Ransom asks.

“You,” Assumpta reminds him.

“Oh, right,” Ransom says, looking chagrined. “Hope y’all like the rain.”

“That’s a shot,” Will says, completely deadpan.

While the others burst out laughing, Ransom shakes his head. “If we’re still playing that, literally all of us are going to have alcohol poisoning. Trust me, I’m a doctor.”

“Of sports medicine,” Shitty says, and it sounds an awful lot like a chirp.

“It lets me fix my idiot husband’s knees when he forgets he’s turning forty in two years, doesn’t it, Adam?” Ransom calls down the hall to Holster, who’s still talking about hockey with Ainsley, Jack, and Snowy, and now Chowder.

“I’m so offended right now, babe,” Holster says without any conviction.

The rest of them laugh and Derek lets his head fall onto Will’s shoulder. It was thirteen years ago that day that he woke up and realised he was in love with him, and he’s pretty sure those feelings are never going away.

* * *

_ The Samwell Hockey Family – First Family of Hockey? _

Everyone was a little surprised when the tiny school from Massachusetts made it to the Frozen Four for the first time, under the captaincy of Jack Zimmermann. When they won the next year under the combined captaining of Adam Birkholtz and Justin Oluransi, people were less surprised. They followed on that with a win under captain Eric Bittle, and one more under captain Chris Chow. They lost in the finals the next year under captain Rafael Weiss.

The Samwell Hockey Team was earlier the subject of an article that speculated it was their hockey team that turned the NHL queer. Jack Zimmermann came out first – making him the first openly queer member of the NHL – back when he was still playing for the Falconers. He has since married and adopted children with Eric Bittle. Adam Birkholtz, recently retired captain of the Seattle Schooners, came out roughly at the same time – with a brief intermission for Kent Parson, one of the all-time record holding hockey players ever – and then proceeded to help the Schooners to their first Stanley Cup. Chris Chow, originally signed with the Canucks then traded to the Sharks two years later, although married to a woman, does point out when asked that no one should assume anything just because he fell head over heels for US Women’s volleyball champion Caitlin Farmer.

Samwell Men’s Hockey returned to the Frozen Four for an unprecedented thirteen consecutive years, making them statistically one of the best teams in the NCAA. Samwell, despite its status as a small liberal arts school, is now known as a hockey powerhouse and is known to have scouts sniffing around at any given moment.

But all eyes are on legacy Samwell Hockey kid Ainsley Poindexter-Nurse, the recently graduated captain of the Samwell Women’s Hockey team and just as recently elected captain of Team USA women’s hockey for the upcoming Winter Olympics. We had the opportunity to sit down with her and get all the details.

_ ESPN _ : So you’re a legacy Samwell kid, aren’t you?

_ APN _ : Yeah, I am. My dads both played for the men’s team when they were in college. It’s actually how they met.

_ ESPN _ : Your dads?

_ APN _ : I know, shocking right? Queer dudes from the Samwell Men’s Hockey team. Uh, but, technically my biological father is a complete bag of [censored] who kicked me out when I was thirteen for being a lesbian, and so I went and moved in with my uncle, Will Poindexter – he shot the winning goal in the Frozen Four in 2017 – and his husband Derek Nurse.

_ ESPN _ : Derek Nurse? Like-

_ APN _ : Yeah, like the writer. Although, to be honest, he doesn’t write so much as sit in his home office and swear at fictional characters.

_ ESPN _ : You know, I was going to ask if they’re the ones who got you into hockey, but to be playing at the level you’re at, you had to start before you were thirteen.

_ APN _ : I did, yeah. But it was them all the same. They took me ice skating for the first time when I was five and it just clicked.

_ ESPN _ : And are you close with the other members of the Samwell Hockey Team from your dads’ time there?

_ APN _ : You mean my uncles? *laughs* Yeah, yeah absolutely. All of us meet up every Fourth of July and celebrate even though Uncle Jack and Uncle Ransom are Canadian as hell. They even get Dad Bob to come down and wrangle the small kids. I could’ve made a killing as a babysitter growing up, but all I wanted to do was play hockey.

_ ESPN _ : Sorry, Dad Bob?

_ APN _ : Oh, god, sorry. Bob Zimmermann, Uncle Jack’s dad. You know who Bob Zimmermann is, right?

_ ESPN _ : Passing familiarity, yeah. How would you say your hockey performance has been affected, growing up with all these Stanley Cup winners?

_ APN _ : I mean, to be honest? I was probably even more influenced by my dad Derek since he coached my under-15 team when I was a kid. But no, it’s great having them all around. Especially Jack and Dad Bob, since I’m in Montreal now with Les Canadiennes. It’s great to go with either of them – or my Uncle Eric for that matter – to games at Centre Bell and get to see Bob and Jack’s jerseys retired up on the wall.

_ ESPN _ : Were you already part of the family when Jack brought the Stanley Cup back to Canada?

_ APN _ : Oh god, yeah that was my first year with my proper family. I got to watch Game 7 in person. Like, I was into hockey in a big way before then, but the bone shattering cheers that went through Centre Bell were just – oh my god it was phenomenal. I mean, obviously I’m American, grew up in Vermont, the whole deal, but still. Although it was a little emotionally traumatic in the family since my uncle Snowy – uh, Andrew Sewick – was playing for the Bruins that season.

_ ESPN _ : Wait, you know Andrew Sewick too?

_ APN _ : Oh. Yeah. His wife is my dad’s sister. He’s like actually my uncle in the most strictest legal sense of the word. And I think it was even more trying because you know, it was between the Bruins and the Habs, and then Snowy and Jack used to play together on the Falcs, so it was a little…tense.

_ ESPN _ : Now, you know all these male hockey players, but women’s hockey is a little different.

_ APN _ : Yeah, it is. But I grew up knowing Georgia Martin too, back when she was the Assistant GM for the Falcs, so I had that influence as well. She was the one who scouted me for the Olympics four years ago too.

_ ESPN _ : If you could change one thing about women’s hockey, what would it be?

_ APN _ : Checking. *laughs* I play defence like my dads did, and sometimes I just really want to slam someone into the boards, you know?

_ ESPN _ : And you’re going into the Olympics for the second time. How are things going to be different this time?

_ APN _ : Well last time I’d been playing with the NCAA for just a year, and this time I’ve got four years of NCAA and most of a season with the CWHL, and I’m the captain this time. So that’ll be fun. *laughs*

_ ESPN _ : Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but Japan’s captain and Sweden’s captain both play for Les Canadiennes regularly as well, don’t they?

_ APN _ : Rinko and Brigitte? Yeah. It’ll be fun to play against them. Aside from the Olympics, it’ll be good to see how their strategies play out on the ice when they’re in charge so we can really kick everyone’s ass in the CWHL next season.

_ ESPN _ : And the captain for Team Canada…

_ APN _ : *groans* Yeah. I think she’s probably a little pissed that three of her subordinates are captains of their national teams as well.

_ ESPN _ : That sounds a little tense.

_ APN _ : It’s – yeah. It is. Marietta and I play really great hockey together, the coaches really like to make us linemates, but seriously? She’s the reason I wish checking were legal even if it’s totally f*cked up to check your own teammates, let alone your defence partner. But I’ll hopefully be seeing her in the finals, and it would be so lovely to beat her.

_ ESPN _ : Healthy competition or…

_ APN _ : Kinda unhealthy, actually. We’re both very competitive and we’re both perfectionists and her parents let her play in Juniors and mine didn’t since they know how badly it f*cked with Uncle Jack so she kinda has that little bit of superiority complex about that, even though she gets weirdly nervous every time I mention one of my uncles. I don’t know. I kinda think she’s a little jealous I went to college and have a degree and still get to captain an Olympic team. But at the same time, always trying to be better than the other has made us really great on the ice. I think the GMs would be worried if it didn’t inspire us to excellent hockey, but as long as we keep playing this well they’re not gonna interfere in our various interpersonal sh*t.

_ ESPN _ : Are your dads or your uncles worried about that at all?

_ APN _ : *laughs* Are you kidding me? I called my dads, furious, ranted about Marietta for like an hour, and they did that super gross couple thing where they just kinda looked at each other and had a silent conversation, and apparently when they were frogs – uh, sorry, freshmen – at Samwell they hated each other’s guts and they’ve been married for like thirteen years now or something gross like that.

_ ESPN _ : Have they been good dads?

_ APN _ : Oh my god yeah. They’re like the most embarrassing dads ever, though. My dad Will is a professor at Middlebury and then my dad Derek is a writer as I said, and then they’re both total hockey geeks and so they come to pretty much all of my games and cheer so loudly it’s just…they’re great. I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today without them.

_ ESPN _ : Are they coming to the Olympics?

_ APN _ : You better believe it. They went to every single game four years ago. They’re not going to miss it for anything.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A list of things that happened between the end of chapter 10 and the epilogue:  
> \- Colin did sue for full custody of his children, and discovered Malachy was in fact not his. Some years later, he caught Ainsley kissing another girl and flipped. Ainsley turned up on Dex and Nursey's doorstep with a backpack and her hockey skates and never left.  
> \- All of the Poindexters attended Assumpta and Snowy's wedding about a year after the end of the main story. Colin was himself for the occasion, Nursey punched him in the face (again) and did so in full view of Snowy who could now truly establish that Nursey's dibs had been used, and then Snowy _also_ punched Colin in the face a few times because nothing says "fun wedding" like one of the bride's brothers-in-law and the groom beating the shit out of one of the bride's brothers.   
>  \- Jack got traded to the Habs, played in the Olympics a couple times, and brought the Stanley Cup back to Canada for the first time in like 30 years. He retired from the Habs and his jersey number went with him. It hangs next to Bob's in Centre Bell.  
> \- Bitty and Jack adopted a pair of twins, Madeline and Thomas. Tommy spends most of his time in Bitty's bakery in Montreal, and Maddie plays hockey (sometime in the very distant future, Team USA and Team Canada bicker over who gets her for the Olympics since she's got dual citizenship)  
> \- Ransom and Holster stayed in Seattle against all odds, Ransom working in sports medicine, Holster playing for the Schooners his entire professional career. They live right on Lake Washington with a view of Gasworks Park and are disgustingly happy.  
> \- Farmer got a job in the Bay Area a few months after moving to Vancouver with Chowder. They were pretty sure they couldn't make the long distance thing work, but that didn't stop them from hooking up whenever Chowder was playing the Sharks or the Kings, and he definitely found out he was getting traded to the Sharks the same month Farmer realised she was pregnant. They are now very happily married, and their son's name is Kevin.  
> \- Shitty and Lardo never did get married, because Lardo won't do it (Shitty only cries about this when he's drunk. When he's sober, he will rail the institution of marriage despite the fact all his friends are happily married). They have foster children.  
> \- Dex went to grad school on Nursey's dime - which Nursey was very happy about since Dex wouldn't let him pay off Dex's student loans - and has his own firm for engineering in their town in Vermont. He also teaches classes at the local college. Nursey is a writer.  
> \- And if you don't think Ainsley ended up with Marietta, I don't know what to tell you.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! Thanks for reading this story. It was my first in the fandom and is therefore very special to me so it's always nice to hear what y'all think.


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